MINA, Saudi Arabia — Huge crowds of Muslims hurled pebbles at stone walls representing the devil in a purging ritual of the hajj pilgrimage Saturday, with many expressing joy at the news of Saddam Hussein's execution in Iraq.
The stone-throwing ritual has been one of the most dangerous of the hajj, the cause of frequent stampedes as the massive crowds of pilgrims file past the walls along a gigantic platform, hitting each with seven stones.
Last year, more than 360 pilgrims were killed in a stampede, while 244 pilgrims died in a similar crush in 2004.
Only days after last year's hajj ended, Saudi authorities tore down the platform and built a new, larger one with more entrances and exits.
Thousands of police enforced strict traffic rules for the pilgrims this year, keeping them moving in one direction. Cranes still surrounded the nearly mile-long platform, which over the next years will be expanded to five levels.
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Saudi Arabia expressed irritation that Saddam was executed during the hajj — particularly on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the biggest Islamic holiday. Saudi authorities always worry that the annual hajj — attended this year by nearly 3 million pilgrims from around the world — could see eruption of political protests.
"It is a cause of surprise and disappointment that the death sentence was implemented on the first day of Eid, which is supposed to embody unity for Muslims," the state news agency said in an editorial.
News of Saddam's hanging before dawn quickly reached pilgrims, many of them notified from home by phone calls.
A group of Iraqi Shiites passed around the news with joy as they walked to the stone walls. "Today we were stoning the devil, but we were also stoning Saddam," said Sayed Hassan Moussawi, an Iraqi Shiite cleric.
"Everyone here is so happy. He killed so many men, women and children and he tormented Iraq's Shiites."
