Demonstrations follow Sadr's call for protest against wall

Demonstrators protesting today in Sadr City

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr strongly condemned construction of a wall around a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, calling for demonstrations against the plan as a sign of "the evil will" of American "occupiers."

The remarks, in a statement read by an aide, were the first by the anti-American cleric since the U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile long 12-foot high concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold that has been targeted by mortar and rocket attacks by Shiite militiamen...

In the statement, al-Sadr said the protests showed that Iraqis reject "the sectarian, racist and unjust wall that seeks to divide" Sunnis and Shiites.

"I am confident that such honorable voices will bring down the wall," he said.

Read the rest at the Seattle Times

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