BAGHDAD — Thousands of supporters of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr protested Friday against any security agreement between the U.S. government and Iraq that would keep American forces in the country for years.
Protests were held in several cities, as Sadr's followers angrily voiced their opposition to negotiations that call for U.S. troops or military bases to remain in Iraq.
Waving Iraqi flags, some protesters in Sadr City shouted: "No, no, no to the occupation!" A small group burned an effigy of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
The Iraqi leader signed a joint declaration with President Bush late last year that set principles for the negotiations on the status of forces agreement, which aims to cover military, trade and cultural relations. They planned to finalize a new security agreement by July 31.
Sadr, whose movement battled U.S. and Iraqi forces in spring in Sadr City and the southern port city of Basra before agreeing to truces in both places, came out strongly this week against any agreement legitimizing the presence of U.S. forces after 2008.
The cleric warned in a statement that his movement would hold protests every week until the Iraqi government renounced plans for the pact.
Members of Maliki's U.S.-allied government also have started to speak out in favor of imposing major restrictions on U.S. forces after the United Nations mandate authorizing their presence expires Dec. 31.
Iraq has said it will submit the agreement to parliament for approval, whereas the White House has argued that the agreement is administrative and does not need to be voted on in Congress.
The negotiations are an emotional issue in Iraq, which won full sovereignty from British colonial rule in 1932 under a treaty that allowed Britain to keep military bases and which paved the way for it to later intervene in Iraqi affairs.
The Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite parties that returned from exile after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, is sensitive to Sadr's charges that they are collaborating with an occupying force.
Leaders of the main parliamentary blocs made clear their displeasure with American negotiating positions during a meeting this week of Iraq's political council for national security.
Officials with Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party have gone further in voicing their discontent.
