The United States-led coalition braced for bloodshed in Iraq’s capital as mosques linked to a fireband Shiite cleric called for a general strike and the Americans shut the entrances to their Baghdad headquarters in anticipation of violent demonstrations.
The loudspeakers of Shiite mosques, affiliated with cleric Moqtada Sadr, called on Sunday morning for religious followers to conduct a mass strike and for Sadr’s paramilitary Medhi army to gather in the capital.
US troops and Shiites braced for confrontation after a night of protests in Baghdad that saw Sadr supporters throw themselves at US tanks, blocking their path toward the coalition headquarters as they headed to protest on Saturday.
A police officer said two demonstrators were crushed by the tanks, but it was impossible to confirm his account.
Baghdad has been rocked by demonstrations since last Sunday when US forces shut down al-Hawza newspaper, a pro-Sadr publication, for 60 days on charges of inciting violence and hostility against the coalition.
Sadr’s supporters again took to the street on Saturday around central and southern Iraq after his movement claimed one of the young cleric’s top aides, Sheikh Mustafa Yaacubi, had been arrested. However, the coalition refused to confirm or deny the report.
An advisory from the US consulate in Iraq warned that the coalition feared the protests on Sunday could turn violent and announced it was shutting the entrances to its sprawling headquarters, better known as the Green Zone, from 5am to noon.
”With the concurrence of Ambassador Bremer, travel outside the Green Zone from 5am to noon on Sunday April 4 2004 will be prohibited due to large demonstrations at all Green Zone check points,” the advisory reads.
”These demonstrations have a very high probability of turning violent.”
Bearing out the coalition’s worries, Shiite mosques around Baghdad called for Sadr’s followers to turn out in force on Sunday.
”Loyal people of Iraq, in protest of the detention of religious clerics by the occupation forces, the decision has been taken to [start a] general strike at all government institutions and schools, so we call on you to answer this call,” the loudspeakers blared from mosques.
”Mehdi army members should immediately head to Mosque Mohsen al-Hakim in Sadr City.”
Sadr, the scion of an illustrious Shiite family, has clashed repeatedly with US forces since last summer, but has intensified his verbal barrage against the coalition in recent weeks. — Sapa-AFP