Protests erupt in cities against Najaf fighting

A man clears the way for a police car adorned with pictures of radical Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr during a massive demonstration yesterday in front of the so-called Green Zone in the center of Baghdad. A Sadr spokesman urged thousands of Iraqis in Baghdad to march to the besieged holy city of Najaf on foot after Juma (Friday) prayers. PHOTO: AFP

Protests against the US-led military campaign in the sacred Shia Muslim city of Najaf broke out in five Iraqi cities yesterday, with some demonstrators calling for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to step down.

In one of the biggest protests, enraged Iraqis in the southern town of Diwaniya swarmed over the local office of his political party, ripping down signs and throwing rocks.

A military offensive by U.S. and Iraqi forces against militiamen of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has inflamed passions among Iraq's majority Shias.

Thousands also protested in central Baghdad, Kufa and Samawa. The military campaign infuriated residents of the Sunni-dominated town of Falluja, a hotbed of resistance.

About 3 thousand demonstrators marched in the center of Falluja carrying pictures of Sadr and placards denouncing the US bombing of Najaf, where the cleric and his followers are surrounded.

"Long live Sadr. Falluja stands by Najaf against America," the demonstrators shouted.

Thousands of supporters of Shia Muslim militia leader Moqtada Sadr, who was reported wounded yesterday in the besieged city of Najaf, marched through Baghdad, saying they were willing to die as his martyrs.

The crowd set out from the cleric's Baghdad bastion of Sadr City, in the northeast of the capital, for the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses some government offices.

"We want to be martyrs for you Moqtada Sadr" and "He's the bridge to paradise," the men chanted as they walked and drove through the centre of the city packed into buses, trucks and cars, said an AFP correspondent.

The men, none of them armed, denounced Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has pressed Sadr's Mehdi Army to surrender after more than a week of fierce fighting against US troops and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf.

"We want to hold a peaceful demonstration outside the convention centre" inside the Green Zone, said one of the protesters, who refused to give his name.

The men held aloft a sea of flags and carried banners reading "Shoot Down American Planes" and "Leave Moqtada Sadr".

At one point along the route, police were called out to defuse a multiple car bomb that would have caused carnage had it detonated.