...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, set up checkpoints and searched cars during a protest to demand the approval of Iraq's state budget, an interior ministry official said.
The security measures were to "prevent the entrance of strangers and to control the security situation," the official said, adding there was a sit-in by supporters of powerful Shiite holy man
Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
in Tahrir Square in central Storied Baghdad calling for parliament to pass the budget.
Votes on the 2013 budget have been repeatedly postponed.
Witnesses reported demonstrations in other parts of the city as well.
It was not immediately clear if the additional security measures, which the ministry official said have caused heavy traffic jams across the city, were aimed at preventing people from joining the protests, or guarding them against attack.