Al-Sadr opposes all foreign interference in Iraq, but has recently aligned himself more closely with Iran, whose allies have dominated state institutions since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Throngs of marchers started gathering early yesterday at al-Hurriya Square in central Baghdad and near around the city’s main university, witnesses said. Main roads in Baghdad were barricaded by security forces and the city’s Green Zone, which houses foreign missions, was blocked off with concrete barriers. Long opposed to the US troop presence, al-Sadr seized on the public anger over the drone strike to call “a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations.”The cleric controls parliament’s largest bloc and his followers hold top ministerial positions. Harith Hasan of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut said al-Sadr was trying to sustain his “multiple identities” by backing various protests.
