Sadr supporters stage rally on Iraq war anniversary
BASRA - Agence France-Presse
Supporters of anti-US Shi’ite cleric al-Sadr wave portraits of al-Sadr during a rally in Basra, on the 9th anniversary of US-led invasion. REUTERS Photo
Tens of thousands of loyalists of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr rallied in south Iraq yesterday decrying poor services and rampant graft on the ninth anniversary of the US-led invasion against Saddam Hussein.Protesters flooded the centre of the southern port city of Basra for the rally, with demonstrators waving Iraqi flags and portraits of the anti-US Shiite cleric and his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, killed in 1999 by assailants thought to have been sent by Saddam.
Reading remarks composed by Sadr, currently in Iran, Sheikh Assad al-Nassari told the crowd: “We cannot rest when there is injustice against us.” “Demand your rights, I will support you, and with our unity we will be strong. You must fight for a stable nation.” Some protesters held aloft electrical cables, water canisters and shovels to symbolize the poor services that plague Iraq, nine years after a US-led coalition invaded the country to overthrow Saddam. Others carried empty coffins with words plastered on them such as “democracy”, “electricity”, “education” and “services”. Despite increasing oil production, Iraq suffers from sporadic electricity, with power cuts multiplying during the boiling summer, poor clean water provision, widespread corruption and high unemployment.
