Iraqis flock to Najaf for anti-US protest

NAJAF: Thousands of Iraqis flocked to the holy city of Najaf on Sunday for a big demonstration called by radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr against the US presence in Iraq.   

Sadr has urged Iraqis to protest in Najaf on Monday, the fourth anniversary of the day on which US forces swept into central Baghdad in 2003. It is remembered around the world as the day a large statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in the Iraqi capital.   

The Baghdad-Najaf road was packed on Sunday with hundreds of vehicles crammed with passengers waving Iraqi flags and chanting religious and anti-US slogans.   

"No, no, no to America ... Moqtada, yes, yes, yes," they chanted as they converged towards Najaf.   

Sadr himself is not expected to attend the gathering -- he has not appeared at a large public gathering in months. A statement is likely to be read out on his behalf.   

Protesters in the southern town of Samawa clashed with Iraqi police on Sunday after they were stopped from getting to Najaf. One protester stabbed a policeman and police retaliated by firing shots in the air to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.   

Monday's protest is expected to attract tens of thousands of Iraqis angry at the violence that grips their country, four years after US forces ousted Saddam. Demonstrations will begin at a mosque in nearby Kufa, then move to Najaf.   

"Our feeling is like the feeling of any Iraqi who calls for sovereignty and freedom," said 27-year-old Baghdad resident Abbas Kadhem, an electricity store owner who arrived in Najaf.   

"We are answering the call of Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr to spread freedom and to demand that the occupation forces leave."   

Sadr late last month said Iraq had "endured difficult years because of this oppressive occupation that claims it removed the destroyer (Saddam Hussein) to bring the ghost of a fake democracy" to the country.   

Saddam persecuted Iraq's majority Shi'ites for decades. Sadr's own father was killed under Saddam's regime.   

Police will impose a vehicle curfew on Najaf from 8:00 p.m.   

The US military says Sadr is in neighbouring Iran. His aides insist the young cleric is in Iraq and have denied suggestions he fled to Iran to escape a new U.S.-backed security crackdown that began in Baghdad in mid-February.   

Despite his criticism of the United States, Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, which Washington says is the greatest threat to peace in Iraq, has kept a low profile during the new Baghdad offensive. The cleric is also a key supporter of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.