BBC: Tens of thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have rallied against the US presence in Iraq, six years after Saddam Hussein's fall.
Protesters in Baghdad's Firdos Square carried pictures of the cleric and chanted slogans denouncing what they called the occupation of Iraq.
Six years ago, US troops reached the square and helped Iraqis pull down a statue of their former leader there.
US combat troops are due to pull out from Iraq's cities by the end of June.
Under a recent agreement, they are expected to remain elsewhere in the country until the end of August 2010.
Moqtada Sadr has repeatedly called for a complete and immediate US withdrawal from Iraq.
Protesters carrying Iraqi flags chanted slogans such as "No, no America - Yes, yes Iraq" as they thronged the streets and burned an effigy of former US President George W Bush.
"God, unite us, return our riches, free the prisoners from the prisons, return sovereignty to our country ... make our country free from the occupier, and prevent the occupier from stealing our oil," an aide to Mr Sadr read, as part of a message from the radical cleric.
Mr Sadr has not been seen in Iraq for several months and is believed to be in neighbouring Iran. >>> | Thursday, April 9, 2009
