Iraqis call for total US pullout

Iraqis stage huge anti-US protest as thousands of protesters marched through Baghdad denouncing the US occupation of Iraq, two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

BAGHDAD, 10 April 2005 Tens of thousands of Iraqis marched here yesterday to call for the total pullout of US troops from Iraq and demand a speedy trial of Saddam Hussein on the second anniversary of his overthrow.

Chanting no, no to the occupiers, men loyal to cleric Moqtada Sadr streamed from the district of Sadr City to Firdaus Square in central Baghdad where Saddam’s statue was torn down two years ago, in a peaceful show of strength.

The square and side streets were quickly packed with crowds waving Iraqi flags and brandishing effigies of Saddam, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush. No America! No Saddam! Yes to Islam! many chanted. One group of demonstrators burned an American flag.

We want a stable Iraq and this will only happen through independence, said a statement from Sadr’s office read out at the rally. There will be no security and stability unless the occupiers leave … The occupiers must leave my country.

Iraqi security forces shut down central Baghdad ahead of the march and were keeping a tight watch. US forces, around 135,000 of whom remain in Iraq, were out of sight. Most protesters were searched for weapons before reaching the square.

I came from Sadr City to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation, said Abbas, a young, bearded protester sitting on the grass in the square. Every Iraqi has a right to demand his freedom. The Americans wanted time and we gave them time, now we want to rule ourselves.

Followers of Sadr from the southern cities of Basra, Amara and Nassiriyah traveled hundreds of miles to join the protest, showing the appeal the young cleric, who has led two uprisings against US-led forces, can command. By early evening, most protesters had dispersed. There were no reports of violence.

Firdaus Square has become a central rallying place for Iraqis since Saddam’s overthrow two years ago. US forces last year shut down the square, sealing it off with razor wire, to prevent people massing on the first anniversary. Yesterday’s protest taps into the growing frustration among large swathes of the Iraqi population against the US presence in the country.

Armed insurgents continue to target US soldiers and Iraqi security forces they regard as collaborators.

A US soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast north of Baghdad on Friday, raising to at least 1,543 the number of US troops who have lost their lives in Iraq.

Yesterday, the bodies of 15 Iraqi soldiers were found in the lawless area just south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. Police said the soldiers were in a truck that was stopped by insurgents the previous day. All the men had been shot.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber killed two policemen and a child, and wounded several, police said.

In the town of Haditha in the volatile Sunni province of Anbar, west of Baghdad, local police chief Maj. Ziad Al-Joghaithi was assassinated by gunmen in two cars as he left a meeting with US troops, Iraqi police said.