| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
BAGHDAD: Thousands of Shiites burned effigies of US leaders at rally in Baghdad Saturday called by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to demand the withdrawal of American troops and to protest a planned US-Iraq security deal.
Effigies of US President George W. Bush – with bandaged head and fractured right arm – and of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were set ablaze along with several American flags as protestors chanted anti-US slogans.
The protestors spat out their anger at the US during a protest march which began at the cleric's Sadr City bastion in east Baghdad and ended at nearby Mustansiriyah Square, where the effigies were torched.
"No, no, to America! No, no to the devil!" shouted crowds of men, women and children as they walked the three kilometre (two mile) route through the dusty streets of Sadr City to the square.
Carrying Iraqi flags and banners of the Sadr movement, the demonstrators demanded an end to the US occupation of Iraq.
"Get out occupier! We demand an end to the occupation!" they shouted.
Large numbers of Sadr supporters had gathered since Friday night at Sadr City's Mudhaffar Square where the protest march began, while many arrived at the venue from several Shiite regions of Iraq early Saturday.
"We are marching to reject the occupation," said Karim Kadhim, a Shiite from the holy city of Najaf.
"Would America like to be occupied by any other country? Would America like its sons to be attacked? Why are they occupying our country?" he asked.
"They have been lying for the past five years. They told us they are coming to free us and go. But they are still lying."
After the burning of the effigies and flags at Mustansiriyah Square, protestors chanted slogans praising the Sadr group's Mahdi Army militia.
"The Mahdi Army is still powerful and Sadr is still powerful," the crowd chanted, referring to the cleric's feared 60,000-strong militia.
Muhannad al-Arrawi, a senior leader from Sadr movement, said the protest had been supported by people from all of Iraq's main ethnic communities.
"Iraq is a state of unity because we have the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites in the demonstration," Arrawi said.
Another protestor, Sami al-Arraji, said the demonstration was also against a security deal now being hammered out by Washington and Baghdad.
"We reject this agreement with the occupier because it is a long-term pact which will give it (US) a guarantee to rule Iraq as long as possible," he told AFP.
US and Iraqi negotiators have reached agreement on a draft security deal which would govern the future status of American forces in Iraq after the present UN mandate ends in December, but the pact has still to be approved by leaders of both countries.
Details have not been made public but officials have previously said agreement was reached on a timeline for a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
A key point of contention in the months-long negotiations has been whether US troops and contractors would fall exclusively under US jurisdiction if accused of serious crimes in Iraq.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday told reporters in Washington that the American military leaders "are all satisfied that our men and women in uniform serving in Iraq are well protected".
Sadr and his followers are opposed to any kind of deal with Washington that would keep American forces in the country.
The protest was originally to be held on April 9 – the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime – but was postponed due to violent clashes between Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and US and Iraqi forces.
The cleric, reportedly in Iran, has been a strong opponent of the US presence in Iraq and launched two bloody rebellions in 2004 from Najaf which killed hundreds of his militiamen but established him as a hardline leader of the masses.
- AFP/so
|
