Baghdad march supports Marjaiyah, slams holy sites insult

By: Hamoud Kufi

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Iraqis, shouting their allegiance to the Najaf Marjaiyah (religious authority) and demanding full sovereignty for their country, demonstrated in the capital city of Baghdad, reports said Saturday.

The demonstrators gathered on the Khalani square in central Baghdad holding banners and placards. “He who insults the holy sites insults Islam,” said one of the banners. “We all support the Badr Brigades,” chanted some of the demonstrators referring to the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq headed by Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim.

In the nearby Burassa mosque, prayer leader Sayyed Muhammad Al-Haideri called on worshippers to close ranks behind the Marjaiyah.

“If the Iraqi people unite behind the Marjaiyah, they will defeat terrorism…The policies of the occupation forces have plunged Iraq into chaos,” he said rejecting “the incomplete sovereignty” Washington and London proposed to the United Nations on Monday.

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