Shiites rage against US occupation of Iraq

Iraqi Shiite Muslims stage an angry protest in the southern city of Basra near the British forces' headquarters, denouncing encircling the house of leading Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who gave a vitriolic anti-American sermon the day before. Photo: AFP

More than 10,000 demonstrators rallied in the Shiite holy city of Najaf Sunday in support of cleric Moqtada Sadr, a fiery critic of the US-led occupation, leading to a tense standoff with US marines.

Chanting "No, no to America! No, no to the arrogant!" protesters gathered outside Najaf's main mosque, the tomb of imam Ali and one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, dressed in white robes and wearing green headbands.

The streets of the city became a sea of Sadr's supporters, who marched on the city hall where some threw stones at more than two dozen marines guarding the compound, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Imams in the crowd formed a human chain and tried to calm the protesters, as the marines kept their guns pointed at the ground.

After brief scuffles with the US troops, a group of clerics and followers entered the compound and talked with the US commander in charge of the town.

They presented demands, including that the marines withdraw from Najaf and relinquish control of the local television station.

"Show me whether Moqtada Sadr is a man of peace or of violence," Lieutenant Colonel Chris Conlin told the imams. "I do not want to see violence in the city of Abraham and Adam. This is a sacred place."

One of the imams, Sheikh Khalid al-Kadimi, told Conlin: "We'll get the people to go back and pray," before telling the crowd to disperse, speaking through a loudspeaker on a US military vehicle.

Another cleric, Sheikh Qais Kazali, told Conlin: "You have your boss and I have mine."

"Down, down with America! We are the followers of Sadr!" protesters chanted, beating their chests, punching their fists in the air and carrying banners depicting Sadr's father, assassinated by agents of Saddam Hussein in 1999.

"Today there are no weapons but in the future there will be," they railed.

Sadr, who has seen his popularity rocket in the chaos and power vacuum of post-war Iraq, said US troops had besieged his home on Saturday after he gave an outspoken sermon Friday lambasting the coalition.

Conlin denied the claim, and said that Sadr had brought supporters from outside Najaf to swell the crowds at Sunday's protest.

"Sadr wants to build up his prestige," he said.

Sadr's spokesman, Mustafa Yaqubi, said that demonstrators had marched on a US base outside the town late Saturday and claimed that they had met a senior US officer who had apologised for the incident.

"The first thing people want is to protect Sadr from any harm. After his speech it became a possibility that he would be harmed," Yaqubi said.

The palpable display of anger sends an alarming message to the US-led coalition from the Shiites who, until now, have gone along with the occupation, unlike the country's Sunni minority, blamed for a string of guerrilla-style attacks on US forces.

"We are seeking a peaceful solution with America, so no blood will be spilled," Yaquibi said, adding that an armed insurrection, or intifada, against the occupation was "far away still."