Tens of thousands in Baghdad call for US withdrawal/This homeland is for the Shia and Sunni/aljazeera/8,April/3:03PM

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Fridayﾝ18,ﾝApril,ﾝ2003ﾝ/ﾝLast Updated:ﾝ 3:03PMﾝDoha time,ﾝ6:03AMﾝGMT
Tens of thousands in Baghdad call for US withdrawal

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Baghdad protested against the United States presence in Iraq on Friday, following Friday prayers.

ﾝ Tens of thousands of Iraqis demonstrated following Friday prayers
Waving banners in English and Arabic reading $B!H(BLeave our country, we want peace,$B!I(B protestors outside of the Abu Hanifa Al-Numan Mosque chanted $B!H(BNo to America, no to Saddam$B!I(B and $B!H(BThis homeland is for the Shia and Sunni,$B!I(B in a sign of unity among the two groups.

The majority of Iraq$B!G(Bs 25-million strong population is 60 percent Shia, which had been ruled ruthlessly under Saddam Hussein$B!G(Bs mostly Sunni elitist regime. In recent days there has been mounting discontent from among the Shia to Washington$B!G(Bs presence in Iraq.

Protestors called for unity among Iraqis and urged all to put aside past conflicts and differences.

Al-Jazeera TV correspondent Youseff Al-Shouly reported it was the firstﾝnon-stateﾝorganized protest in the Iraqi capital in decades, describing it as a significant development.

In the first Friday prayers since US tanks rolled into the heart of Baghdad last week, Imam Ahmad Al-Kubaisi said in his sermon the United States invaded Iraq to defend Israel and denied that Iraqi possessed weapons of mass destruction. --Al Jazeera

April 18, 2003