BAGHDAD, Oct 18: Angry supporter of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr chanted anti-US slogans and burnt effigies of American leaders in a mass rally here on Saturday.

Protesters urged Iraqi lawmakers to reject a planned US-Iraq security deal.

Effigies of US President George W. Bush with bandaged head and fractured right arm and of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were set ablaze along with several American flags as protestors chanted anti-US slogans.

Tens of thousands of protestors spat out their anger at the US during a protest march which began at the cleric’s Sadr City bastion in east Baghdad and ended at nearby Mustansiriyah Square, where the effigies were torched. “No, No, to America! No, No to the devil!” shouted crowds of men, women and children as they walked the three kilometre (two mile) route through the dusty streets of Sadr City to the square.

Carrying Iraqi flags and banners of the Sadr movement, the demonstrators demanded an end to the US occupation of Iraq.

“Get out occupier! We demand an end to the occupation!” they shouted.

Large numbers of Sadr supporters had gathered since Friday night at Sadr City’s Mudhaffar Square where the protest march began, while many arrived at the venue from several Shiite regions of Iraq early on Saturday.

“We are marching to reject the occupation,” said Karim Kadhim, a Shia from Najaf.

“Would America like to be occupied by any other country? Would America like its sons to be attacked? Why are they occupying our country?” he asked.

“They have been lying for the past five years. They told us they are coming to free us and go. But they are still lying.” After the burning of the effigies and flags at Mustansiriyah Square, protestors chanted slogans praising Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

“The Mahdi Army is still powerful and Sadr is still powerful,” they chanted, referring to the cleric’s feared 60,000-strong militia. The organisers of the march also read out a statement by Sadr in which he urged the Iraqi parliament to reject the proposed security deal with Washington.

—AFP