HOLY NAJAF, Iraq: People of holy Najaf, while canting O Allah curse upon Baathists and expressing their hatred, hurled shoes, rocks and tomatoes at former premier Iyad Allawi, who was a Baathist, forcing him to cut short a visit on Sunday to the holy shrine during his election campaign trip to this holy city, police officers said.

During his rule after dictator Saddam ouster, Allawi had defended attack of his defense minister Hazim Ash-Shalan on Holy Najaf and holy Haidari shrine saying “haram`ol Imam Ali mithla ayyi masjed, iza tamma hadam yomkin bena’ahu” (shrine of imam Ali is like any other mosque, if it is demolished, its construction is possible) and thus committed irreverence.

Last month, Allawi indirectly favored Saddam, who had martyred hundreds of thousands of innocent people, scholars, Ayaat, engineers, doctors, lawyers, children and women during his regime. Allawi told The Observer newspaper human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Saddam if not worse.

"It is an appropriate comparison … People are remembering the days of Saddam."

He is standing in parliamentary elections scheduled for December 15. He failed to win January's election, which brought current Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari to power.