Iraq: US marines fixed bayonets yesterday to disperse an angry crowd of 10,000 Iraqi Shias in the holy city of Najaf after tempers flared over rumours of US harassment of a radical cleric.
Marchers dispersed after two hours but some of the cleric's supporters warned of an "uprising" in the city if the Americans failed to pull out within three days.
"If they don't leave, they will face a popular uprising," said an aide to the anti-US cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.
Aides to Mr al-Sadr struggled to restrain his supporters, and the show of force by the marines halted the march on the US administration office in the city, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
In heated negotiations, the US commander in Najaf, Lieut Col Chris Conlin, denied reports that his men had surrounded Mr al-Sadr's house on Saturday and warned his men would respond if threatened.
Many protesters were bussed into Najaf from Baghdad's poor Shia bastion, Sadr City. - (Reuters)