Massive Protest in Iraq Against U.S. Occupation

April 14, 2007

On April 9, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets for a huge demonstration against the U.S. occupation.

Huge crowds of people, holding Iraqi flags and anti-US banners, massed in the city of Najaf shouting "No, No to Occupation! Yes, Yes to Freedom!"

"In four years of occupation, our sons have been killed and women made widows," cried one protestor, Ahmed al-Mayahie, from the southern city of Basra. "The occupier raised slogans saying Iraq is free, Iraq is liberated. What freedom? What liberation? There is nothing but destruction. We do not want their liberation and their presence. We tell them to get out of our land," he said.

"I want the occupation to leave right away. Now, no timetable. We want to be ruled by Iraqis only," said another protester, Farhan Turki.

Many Iraqi organizers of the protest and speakers at the event encouraged the people of Iraq to put disagreements aside and to unite against the U.S. occupiers. "This demonstration is a friendly message to unite Iraqis on one common issue and that is end of occupation," said Abdul Qadir al-Daim of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Calling for unity against U.S. troops, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged all Iraqis not to support the "occupier because it is your enemy".