Fresh Sunni protests against PM rock Iraq

RAMADI - Agence France-Presse

Fresh protests against Iraq’s premier in mostly Sunni cities closed off the main road to Syria and Jordan, with one speaker raising the prospect of taking up arms against the government.

Thousands of demonstrators attended rallies in Ramadi and Samarra, capitals of two Sunni-majority provinces in central and western Iraq, to rail against what they said was targeting of their community by officials and security forces from the Shiite-led government.

Finance Minister Rafa al-Issawi, at least nine of whose bodyguards have been arrested on terrorism charges this month, attended the Ramadi rally and pledged to take a representative of the protesters “to negotiate with Baghdad.”

But the demonstrators, who numbered in their thousands and blocked off the highway that connects the Iraqi capital to Jordan and Syria, responded, “We only want a revolution.”

“If our demands are not met, there is no (option) before us, except to raise the weapon against the government,” said Ali Hatem Suleiman at the rally. Among his demands were for federal anti-terror legislation, which he said particularly targeted Sunnis, to be cancelled. Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Samarra, the capital of Salaheddin province north of Baghdad.