Sadr City protesters largely peaceful despite tensions

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Anti-American protestors throng the streets of Sadr City in a view seen from the turret of a passing MRAP. Tens of thousands of demonstrators converged on the area to protest against the American presence in Iraq.


Sadr City protesters largely peaceful despite tensions
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, October 19, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Sadr City marchers peppered American vehicles with rocks Saturday but the flag-waving demonstrators in Baghdad’s longtime hot spot remained largely peaceful as they the protested the United States’ presence in Iraq.

Tens of thousands of marchers from across Iraq converged on the Shiite slum of Sadr City on Saturday in response to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s call for a rally to protest the U.S. presence. Sheik Assad al-Nasseri, an al-Sadr aide, said during a sermon Friday in Najaf that the march was to demand that"the occupier leave unconditionally.

Iraqi and American negotiators are trying to sell a proposed status of forces agreement that will determine the future relationship between the two countries to each country’s officials. The Sadrists are among the most critical of the proposal because it does not force U.S. forces to leave immediately. A draft would require troops to leave by 2011 if certain conditions are met.

The march also comes just over a week after the assassination of Saleh al-Ugaili, a Sadrist member of Parliament who died in a roadside bomb attack on Oct. 9. Many Sadrists blame al-Ugaili’s death on the United States. The Americans have condemned the attack and say evidence so far points to al-Qaida in Iraq or rogue Shiite elements known as "special groups."

Early in the war, Sadr’s calls for demonstrations meant an increase in violence was all but inevitable. But more recently, the Sadrists’ protests have been largely peaceful. That trend appeared to be continuing despite the looming tensions over this weekend’s protest. Neither American nor Iraqi soldiers reported any violent encounters in the area.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58241