Al-Sadr supporters protest US security pact
Shia Muslim supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr protest against pact that will see US troops remain in Iraq until 2011
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Friday, 21, Nov 2008 11:58
Supporters of radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are taking to the streets of Baghdad to protest against a deal that will see US troops remain in Iraq until 2011.
Thousands of al-Sadr's followers are in Firdous Square – where a statue of Saddam Hussein was famously toppled by American soldiers in 2003 – to demand the Iraqi parliament rejects the US security pact.
The agreement, which will see American troops remain in Iraq for the next three years under a United Nations mandate, has already been approved by the country's Cabinet, although the 275-seat parliament will vote on Monday.
Waving green Shia Muslim banners and chanting opposition to the "agreement of humiliation", al-Sadr's supporters made their feelings known on Friday.
Al-Sadr himself is believed to be in Iran, but a representative read out a sermon on his behalf.
"The government must know that it is the people who help it in the good and the bad times," the sermon said.
"If it throws the occupier out all the Iraqi people will stand by it."
Security was extremely tight at today's protest, with security forces searching everyone who entered the square.