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Thousands of people loyal to an Iraqi Shia leader have gathered in Baghdad to protest against the US continued presence in the country, six years to the day after the capital fell to American troops.
Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr rallied on Thursday in Firdous Square, where the statue of then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was pulled down on April 9, 2003.
The demonstrators waved banners and carried pictures of al-Sadr, calling for an end to the US occupation of Iraq.
The rally, which went ahead despite heavy rain, comes amid US preparations to pull its combat troops out of Iraq by the end of June.
Iraqi police kept watch over the protest but did not enter the main square. Iraqi and American armored cars were on standby a short distance away.
Public opinion
Abdel Wahab Al-Qassab from the Strategic Studies Centre in Doha, Qatar, which researches political and military strategies, said that Iraqi public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of US forces leaving the country.
"The US has said verbally that it will end the occupation but we do not know what the real ambition of the invaders is. They could yet say there is no stability in the country and extend their presence there.
"The US has already said that 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq for what they say is training Iraqi troops. But I think that every Iraqi wants US troops out of the country because what has occurred is the shattering of the Iraqi society."
PHOTO CAPTION
Supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr wave Iraqi national flags as they march in a street during a protest in Baghdad April 9, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
