BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr thronged Baghdad on Thursday to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall to U.S. troops, and to demand they leave immediately."Down, down USA," the demonstrators chanted as a Ali al-Marwani, a Sadrist official, denounced the U.S. occupation of Iraq that began with the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square.
The crowds of Sadr supporters stretched from the giant Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around 5 km (3 miles) away. Protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of former U.S. President George W. Bush, who ordered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and also the face of Saddam.
"God, unite us, return our riches, free the prisoners from the prisons, return sovereignty to our country ... make our country free from the occupier, and prevent the occupier from stealing our oil," Sadr said in a message read by a Sadr movement aide Asaad al-Nassiri.
| Sadr being too busy to attend. I think he's studying for final exams ... |
Hammering home the nationalist message, Nassiri exhorted the demonstrators to shake hands with each other and Iraqi police and soldiers overseeing the march. Long queues formed to kiss the police and troops on the cheeks and shake their hands.
Under a bilateral security agreement signed with Bush, all U.S. troops must withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. Many at the demonstration did not trust the United States to live up to the commitment to withdraw.
"Iraq has experience of occupation ... No country has emerged from it through politics and transparency. It will only end through the sword," said demonstrator Khalid al-Ibadi, referring to uprisings against British and Ottoman rule of Iraq.
| Other than Germany, Italy, Japan ... |