Sadr Calls Off Protest After Maliki Forces Block Roads

By Cernig

Freedom of peaceful assembly is a democratic right, yes?

Not in Iraq:

Last week, Al-Sadr urged a million people to take to the streets of the capital Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, to protest the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Authorities ordered a ban on vehicle traffic in the capital from 5 a.m. to midnight Wednesday, state television announced.

Saleh al-Ageili, a spokesman for al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, said Tuesday that protesters heading to Baghdad from Najaf were being prevented by security forces from taking part in al-Sadr's demonstration.

He said the government was restricting the protest to Sadr City, even though the demonstration was planned for a wider area in the capital.

Al-Ageili said that 200 cars carrying protesters from Najaf to Baghdad were stuck in Hilla, in Babil province. A source from Hilla police said they had received orders from Baghdad to block males between the ages of 12 and 35 from proceeding to Baghdad from 6 p.m. Monday until at 6 a.m. Thursday.

That was before al-Sadr called off the demonstration.

"I call on the beloved Iraqi people who wish to demonstrate against the occupation to postpone this because I am worried about them and want to preserve their blood," al-Sadr said on his Web site.

Sadr has also threatened, again, to end his Mahdi Army's ceasefire - at some stage he's either going to have to dump or get off the potty with that one, it's wearing thin. A threat you won't carry out is no threat at all.

But let's consider for a second the situation here - a ruling coalition of very pro-Iranian Shiite exiles put in power by gerrymandered election rules is blocking the supporters of a less pro-Iranian and very nationalist Shiite group from peaceable asembly and restricting their freedom of movement, while targeting warrantless house-to-house searches and attacks on their homes - all to pressure the results of coming elections in their favor.

If the rulers in question weren't being backed by them, doubtless neoconservatives would be pushing for regime change.

Comments

[nabalzbbfr]

The real reason Sadr called off that 1M march was that he realized that considerably less than 10K would show up at best. With the recent vigorous military operations undertaken by the Iraqi government, with our assistance, the stranglehold of the Mahdi Army on Sadr city and similar Shiite slums has been broken and they no longer can be herded into forced million man marches. Indeed the Mahdi Army is disbanding itself as the lower ranks peel away with disaffection and the higher ranks flee back into Iran to avoid capture or lynching by the rank and file they once terrorized.

[Pug]

It's great you seem to know all this stuff, nabalzbbfr, but it would be nice if you could provide a shred of support for all your various claims.

Otherwise, you're just an anonymous Internet commenter who appears to think he knows it all, and nothing more.

[Steve Hynd]

That's Nabal all over, Pug. And I mean ALL over. He's a serial troll of the most tonedeaf and Kool-Aid snorting kind. We keep him around for the amusement factor.

Regards, C

[Kat]

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?fr=ybr_sbc&p=nabalzbbfr>nabalzbbfr

Cernig joked, 'We keep him around for the amusement factor.'

The tinfoiler in me thinks, 40 years from now, we'll finally find proof that half the cost of this 'war on (some) terror' was due to paying the salaries of a massive troll army.

Kat

[Mr. Forward]

"The US military released imagery of the demonstrations held in Sadr City that occurred the past three Fridays. The first week, the military estimated Sadr had 10,000 protesters in attendance on May 30; about 3,000 on June 6; and 1,500 today. Sadr City contains an estimated 2.5 million Shia. In 2006 Sadr's protests would draw hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

The military also noted that some Iraqis in Sadr city were “coerced” to join the demonstrations. "Clearly the number of participants is decreasing," said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Stover, the spokesman for Multinational Forces Baghdad. "The steady drop might suggest increasing support for the GoI [government of Iraq] and less support for Muqtada al Sadr."

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/sadr_forms_units_to.php