"Tens of Thousands" demand US out of Iraq

Could non-violent ptotest be about to take hold in Iraq? From Associated Press today:

Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against American troops at the same square where jubilant crowds toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago.

The protesters back radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militiamen led uprisings last year against U.S. troops before signing truces with U.S.-led forces.

Held in the shadow of the Sheraton and Palestine hotels — home to foreign journalists and contractors — the protest reflected frustration both with the U.S. government, which is slowly handing security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, and anger toward the Sunni Arab-led insurgency...

The protesters filled Firdos Square and spilled onto nearby avenues, waving Iraqi flags. Mimicking the famous images of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis pulling down a statue of Saddam as Baghdad fell, protesters toppled effigies of President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Saddam — all dressed in red Iraqi prison jumpsuits that signified they had been condemned to death.

Other effigies of Bush and Saddam were burned.

“Force the occupation to leave from our country,” one banner read in English.

Protesters also called for Saddam to face justice and held up framed photos of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, a spiritual leader to the Shiite population of roughly 60 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people.

Demonstrators carried a symbolic coffin, draped with an Iraqi flag, and swung from a statue said to represent freedom and constructed on the pedestal where Saddam’s statue once stood. Robed and turbaned Shiite clerics were seen among the crowd.

Al-Sadr had been hoping for 1 million people at the demonstration, which supposedly had the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s promise of protection. Yet Al-Sadr supporters were fired on as they made their way to the demonstration, raising the question of how many people stayed away because of fear. It also makes you wonder who would fire on people attending a peaceful anti-US demonstration.

Similar protest have been held elshere in Iraq, and more are planned:

Sunni Muslim clerics also called on their followers to protest on the two year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, but officials in the influential Association of Muslim Scholars refused to say Saturday where or when the protests would take place. ...

Other marches were held across the country to demand that the United States set a timetable for its withdrawal. In the central city of Ramadi, thousands of protestors demonstrated in the al-Sufayaa neighborhood and at Anbar University, demanding that U.S.-led coalition forces set a withdrawal date.

Now, given that this massive demonstration was held right outside the hotel where fearful Western journalists are holed up, CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE THIS ON OUR TV NEWS TONIGHT?