NAJAF, Iraq, April 9 (UPI) -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the southern holy Shiite city of Najaf Monday demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
The demonstrators, marking four years since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, chanted anti-U.S. slogans and carried Iraqi flags and pictures of maverick Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.
"Down with the American occupation of Iraq," "No to the occupation" and "Yes to (Iraqi) unity" were some of the banners raised by the protesters in Najaf.
The demonstration was organized by Sadr's supporters, who said the protest is a peaceful one that would avoid a confrontation with U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities, adding it was an expression of their rejection of the occupation. But eyewitnesses said there was tension on the street as residents feared an eruption of clashes and violence.
The march came amid a 24-hour curfew imposed on all vehicles in Najaf and other cities in an effort by the authorities to prevent car bombings on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. It also came after four days of bloody armed clashes between Sadr's Mahdi Army militia fighters and joint Iraqi-U.S. forces in al-Diwaniya, in southern Iraq.
On Sunday Sadr urged his supporters and the Iraqi security forces to stop the fighting and accused U.S. forces of "planting sedition" in the predominantly Shiite town of Diwaniya. Sadr's whereabouts are unknown. U.S. authorities believe he has taken refuge in Iran amid a crackdown on his group, which has representatives in the elected National Assembly, while officials from his organization insist the cleric is still in Iraq.
