In the biggest anti-U.S. demonstration since the end of the war, thousands of Shiite Muslims marched peacefully through the capital on Monday to protest the U.S. occupation and reject what they feared would be a U.S.-installed puppet government.
According to AP, up to 10,000 rallied in front of a Sunni Muslim mosque in the capital's northern district of Azimiyah, then marched to the nearby Kadhamiya quarter. Some carried portraits of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran and other noted Shiite clerics.
"We decided to gather outside a Sunni mosque to show unity between Shiites and Sunnis," said Rashid Hamdan, an organizer.
He added the procession was organized by religious groups from Baghdad's al-Thawra suburb — formerly known as Saddam City, where an estimated 2 million Shiites live.
The crowd chanted "No Shiites and no Sunnis, just Islamic unity," sang religious songs, and carried banners reading "No to the foreign administration," and "We want honest Iraqis, not their thieves." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
