Thousands of supporters of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr staged a march in al-Amara on Friday to express backing for the Libyan people, according to the director of Sadr’s office in the city.

“The demonstrators were chanting slogans of support for the Libyan people in their upheaval to change Libya’s ruling regime and denouncing the killing of Libyan civilians,” Ta’ama al-Khazaali told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“The protests in Amara were peaceful and condemned criminal acts perpetrated against the Muslim Libyan people who call for peaceful change of the regime while in the same time denounced any U.S. interference in Libyan affairs,” he added.
Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of Baghdad.
Sadr supports right to peaceful protests
In another development, Iraqiya Bloc Leader Iyad Allawi met on Thursday with Shiite Leader Muqtada al-Sadr in the city of Najaf to discuss political developments and protests that gripped Iraq against bad services.
Sadr and Allawi, during a press conference after their meeting at Sadr's house in Lahnana neighborhood in Najaf, co-stressed the right to peaceful protests demanding better services and living conditions.
“No one absolutely objected the mass popular marches calling for better services,” said Sadr, who leads al-Ahrar Bloc, part of the National Alliance coalition that has 40 out of the total 325 seats in the Iraqi parliament.
“The Sadrist Movement will take whatever measures necessary in line with the current plebiscite if the government failed to meet the protesters' demands during the set deadline,” he added.
Baghdad and 15 Iraqi provinces had been gripped by mass demonstrations calling for “better services and end to corruption.”
Violence that erupted during the protests left dozens demonstrators and security men wounded.
For his part, Allawi said his meeting with Sadr aimed to “find ways to work hard to push forward the political process that guarantee achieving the objectives of the Iraqi people.”
(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)