More than 20,000 people marched through Baghdad yesterday in the biggest anti-American protest so far, just nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
The demonstrators poured on to the streets from mosques after the first Friday prayers since United States forces captured the Iraqi capital.
Waving Korans, placards and banners, they demanded the establishment of an Islamic state and the withdrawal of the "army of occupation".
The protest, well organised and orderly, sent a forceful signal of the widespread and steadily growing anger against the American forces and the near-anarchy that has followed their arrival. Days of looting have gone unchecked and US authorities are also being blamed for not restoring electricity and water to the capital.
Shia and Sunni clerics urged the congregation, in fiery sermons, to show their bitterness to the Americans. The marchers came from several mosques and converged in Azamiyah, a central district, for the peaceful protest.
independent uk 19 April 2003
