Saturday 18 October 2008

Thousands of followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr demonstrate against US occupation



Baghdad: Thousands of followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr took to the streets on Saturday in a demonstration against a pact that would allow US forces to stay in Iraq for three more years.

At the demonstration across town, marchers waved Iraqi flags and chanted "Yes, yes Iraq! No, no to the occupation!"
A white-turbaned cleric read out what he described as a letter from Al Sadr calling on parliament to vote down the pact.

"I reject and condemn the continuation of the presence of the occupation force, and its bases on our beloved land," the letter said, calling the pact "shameful for Iraq".
Marchers set fire to a US flag.

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