Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Protesters Pelt Us Troops In Baghdad

Juan Cole 10/09/2003

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

Protesters Pelt US Troops in Baghdad: Rally by the Army of the Mahdi

Protesters from the Sadrist “Army of the Mahdi” gathered again Wednesday at a Shiite mosque in southwest Baghdad, demanding the release of two clerics, Moayad al-Khazraji and Jalil al-Shumri, who had been arrested Tuesday by US troops for “crimes against the coalition.” The two are suspected of stockpiling weaponry in the mosque, and al-Khazraji has made inflammatory sermons against the Americans. Negotiations with the Americans broke down at the mosque site, and 2,000 or so marchers then headed downtown, gathering in front of the Coalition headquarters. The crowd threw stones and shoes at US troops when it became clear that the two clerics would not be released. “Some of them pointed to U.S. soldiers and moved their hands across their necks in a threat of violence. “Today we’re peaceful, tomorrow it will be war,” they chanted. “ They also lay down in the street, blocking roads and immobilizing two US armored personnel carriers. Other protesters attacked Western reporters and photographers. An AP photographer had his camera destroyed. The protesters are followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, a young sectarian leader with an immense following among the two million poor, young inhabitants of Baghdad’s Shiite slums.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....