Hundreds of thousands of supporters of the radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in Basra to mark the day of defense of oppressed Iraqis and to demand better living conditions.
This protest rally is being held ahead of the Arab League summit in Baghdad and on the ninth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. The demonstration did not have anti-American messages, although there were several placards that read "No to America" and "No to Israel."
The correspondent of the FP agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of people gathered, while the police and army estimate that there were more than a million.
Basra is a port city and is located 450 kilometers south of Baghdad.
The slogans at this protest are mainly directed against the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, because it has not improved the living conditions of the poor.
Moktada al-Sadr demands that the government as soon as possible give every Iraqi a share of the oil money, create new jobs, provide housing, help orphans and widows and fight corruption among officials
Demonstrators arrived from all Iraqi provinces and gathered at an intersection in the center of the city, where traffic is prohibited.
Many of them carried Iraqi flags and pictures of Moqtada al-Sadr and his father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadek al-Sadr, who was killed in 1999.
Others chanted: "Yes for rights - no for injustice", "No to poverty" and "No to corruption".
The protesters also carried several coffins, each with words such as "integrity", "democracy", "electricity", "education", "services" written on them.
The last Arab League summit in Baghdad was held 20 years ago, in May 1990, a few months before former President Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait.
In previous years, Sadr's supporters often organized demonstrations on the day in 2003 when the US army captured Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's regime fell.
The last American soldiers left Iraq on December 18, 2011.
Sheikh Asad al-Naseri, a religious official, read the prayer of Moqtada al-Sadr, who is in Iran. He then enumerated on behalf of Sadr a list of demands to the Iraqi government, in which the movement has several ministers.
He said that the government should give every Iraqi a share of oil money as soon as possible, fight more seriously to create new jobs, provide housing and help orphans and widows, as well as fight corruption among officials.
He then suggested that March 19 be marked as an international day to help the oppressed in the world.
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