Sunni and Shia unite against common enemy:
Protest 200,000 join Baghdad rally to denounce US
occupation
Jonathan Steele and Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
Saturday April 10, 2004
The Guardian
Up to 200,000 Iraqi believers, many of them Shias, crowded into
the precinct of Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque yesterday to
denounce the American occupation and pledge solidarity with
the people of Falluja as well as the uprising led by the Shia
cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.
It was the largest show of joint support by Iraq's Sunni and Shia
communities.
"Long live Moqtada, long live Falluja, long live Basra, long live
Kerbala," they shouted, naming the various cities where Shias
have attacked coalition forces. Many punched the air with their
fists.
"It is a year since America with its ally, the British devil Tony
Blair, launched its attack. The Americans invaded the land of
Iraq, but they did not penetrate its people or their souls," Dr
Harith al-Dhari, the main preacher at the Umm al-Qura mosque
thundered into a loudspeaker, as the overflow crowd sat on the
lawns and concrete concourse.
"A year has passed and where is the democracy they
promised? Instead, we have terror and censorship and rivers of
blood," he went on.
The huge rally dwarfed the joint marches of a few thousand
Sunni and Shia sympathisers in northern Baghdad which took
place after the bomb attacks by unknown terrorists which killed
hundreds at two Shia mosques last month.
Solidarity has already gone beyond protest marches. Armed
Shia militants have been reported to be helping the local Sunni
resistance in Falluja.
Dr al-Dhari sneered at the idea that Iraq risks falling into
sectarian civil war.
"The Americans consider themselves a safety valve against
sectarian conflict, but this is an excuse for extending their stay.
Here in this mosque and in this gathering we have the proof that
all groups are united. We all want the coalition to leave this
country," he said.
Even before the sermon started passions were running high.
Residents said they had never seen the vast building and its
compound so full.
It was unfortunate for the coalition that the anniversary of the
ousting of the Saddam Hussein regime fell on a Friday, allowing
preachers to use the occasion for mass protests at the
occupation instead of the celebration of freedom which the
coalition must once have hoped for.
Saddam Hussein built the mosque shortly before his regime's
collapse.
In the monumental style of vast sandstone slabs, which he loved
for his many palaces, it was originally known as the Mother of
all Battles mosque. Its four blue and yellow minarets look like
giant rifle barrels.
At the end of his sermon the preacher called for a general strike
in government offices over the next two days, and a boycott of
American and British goods.
But the most emotional moments came when he turned to the
agony of Falluja. Almost crying into the microphone, he told the
crowd: "The Americans are carrying out vicious terrorist attacks
on the people of Falluja. Falluja is a symbol of Islam." Hundreds
of people wept.
He thanked the hundreds who had given blood to send to the
beleaguered city and he called for worshippers with cars to set
off to the city again to try to get help through the American
blockade.
"We urge you to take medical supplies and diesel for the
hospital's generator. Many Falluja families have fled south and
are living in the open desert. They need help," he said.
As the vast crowd streamed away, a few thousand stayed
behind for an overtly political rally on the mosque's front steps.
They carried banners, saying "Enough to the bloodshed in
Falluja," "Leaving 300,000 people without water and medicine is
a crime against humanity," and "Dear Baghdad, your long night
is coming to an end".
Across Baghdad in the vast, largely Shia district of Sadr city,
thousands of Moqtada al-Sadr supporters laid prayer mats along
the broad main street. Dozens of his armed militia stood guard
on rooftops.
Although the preacher, Sheikh Nasser al-Saadi, urged the
faithful to calm their protests he praised those Iraqis who have
fought the occupation forces.
"Allah, support the insurgents, make them tougher and united.
Let us ask Allah to provide them enough food and teach them
what they need," he said.
Iraqis would resist any attempt by the US to install an
American-appointed government after the June 30 handover of
sovereignty, he promised. "We will reject and refuse any such
government. We want a government owned by the people not by
the occupation force."
Referring obliquely to the firebrand cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, he
said: "The leader gives us orders to keep calm as long as the
other side are honest with their promises to back off from our
city. He is asking us to keep calm and not to let our emotions
stop us reaching our goals."
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