Thousands Join ‘Million Strong’ Anti-US Protest in Baghdad

Thousands of Iraqi supporters of the Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in central Baghdad on Friday in what al-Sadr termed a “million strong” protest pressing for an end to the US military presence in the country. Waving Iraqi flags, they chanted slogans berating the US, Israel, and “colonialists.” The rally follows the Trump Administration’s killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike near the Baghdad airport. It was initially feared that the rally would be much larger and that it would reach the US Embassy, but this did not happen. Security forces on Friday blocked off access to the Green Zone, where the vast US diplomatic compound, other foreign missions and the headquarters of the Iraqi government, itself, are located. A sign at the US Embassy warned that “pre-emptive measures” would be used against anyone approaching too closely. Sadr, who has a huge following in Baghdad’s poverty-stricken districts, says he opposes all foreign influence on the country, but he has increasingly aligned with Iran. Since October, Iraq has been shaken by anti-government protests, with demonstrators expressing opposition to the influence of Iran on the country’s political elite. Government security forces and Iranian-backed militias have killed around 450 people in the demonstrations. Sadr initially approved of the anti-government protests, though he has not publicly encouraged his supporters to join them. Sadr himself, as a leader of one of the two largest blocs in Iraq’s parliament, has been subject to criticism by the demonstrators.