Iraqi Shiites use religious holiday to vent anger against governmen
shyster1
The Washington Post
December 29, 2009
KARBALA: Thousands of Iraqi Shiites in Karbala turned the religious
observance of Ashura into a protest against the Government of the
Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, which faces an election in early
March.
Protesters outside the Imam Hussein shrine greeted the hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims who had descended on the city and shouted: ''We
don't vote for people who steal public money.''
The anti-Government overtones surrounding the religious holiday,
banned by Saddam Hussein, marked a change in sentiment.After the US
invasion, the day had been embraced by the Shiite majority as a moment
to express solidarity in their newfound political power and long-
frustrated religious freedom.
This year Ashura fell at the start of the campaign season for the
election on March 7, which will decide the face of the Government
during and after the US withdrawal. Thousands of security forces were
deployed on the streets to prevent violence that would further weaken
the credibility of Mr Maliki's Government, which has been tested by a
string of bombings. The forces said they had defused nine bombs over
the weekend.
On Saturday the Shiite leader Amar al-Hakim, the head of the Islamic
Supreme Council of Iraq, offered thinly veiled criticisms of the
Government during a speech commemorating Ashura.
''We can see that history is repeating itself. We can see the
political money, temptations and seductions,'' he said at the Kihlani
mosque in central Baghdad. ''Iraqi people don't want the promises to
disappear after the elections. People will not obey any extortions.''
Although Shiite pilgrims had been the target of multiple attacks over
the past week, there was only one major bombing on Sunday, in Kirkuk,
which killed four pilgrims and injured 18, police said.