Thousands of Sadr's Followers March in Baghdad

After three consecutive days of fighting, I think it's safe to assume the ceasefire with the Mehdi army is now void. While the Iraqi security forces and the Mehdi army battle it out in Basra, thousands of Sadr's followers marched in Baghdad. The followers chanted "We demand the downfall of the Maliki government. It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney,". Reuters

Now is the time to utterly destroy the Mehdi army which should've been done when the surge began. Why do you think Sadr agreed to a ceasefire?

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched in Baghdad on Thursday as a crackdown on his followers raged in southern Iraqi towns and rockets and mortars exploded across the capital.

In Sadr City, the vast Shi'ite slum named after Sadr's slain father, enormous crowds of angry men jammed the main circle chanting and shouting slogans calling for the ousting of U.S.-backed Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

....

Mass demonstrations were also held in the northern Kadhimiya and Shula districts. The demonstrations were among the largest anti-government protests Maliki's government has faced, although the total number of marchers was impossible to verify. An Interior Ministry source said hundreds of thousands took part.

More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the government launched a major military operation in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, targeting districts where Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has a strong presence.

Fighting there raged afresh on Thursday for a third day. A Reuters correspondent in the city said Iraqi forces had cordoned off seven districts but were being repelled by Mehdi Army fighters inside them. Helicopters swooped overhead.

Authorities imposed curfews in other Shi'ite towns to halt the spread of the violence, which has exposed a deep divide between Shi'ite parties in Maliki's government and Sadr's followers who in many Shi'ite areas rule the streets.

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