BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- Thousands of people have rallied in Iraq to pay tribute to top Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis who were assassinated in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.
The demonstrators took to the streets in the capital Baghdad, holding up pictures of the two legendary commanders and members of the anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, martyred in clashes against Daesh.
“Having spent weeks of sorrow and hardship, peaceful demonstrators and marchers are gathering on the Friday of Insight to renew their allegiance with those who sacrificed them lives to obtain justice, and to confront those conspiring against our future. The demonstrators oppose any form of normalization of relations with Israel and capitulation to criminal American occupiers,” the participants said in a final communiqué.
“On the occasion of the martyrdom anniversary of the two top anti-terror commanders and a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah fighters, we appeal to the Iraqi judiciary not to give in to pressure, and stand up firmly against fraudsters and aggressors,” they added.
Iraqis also staged a rally on Firdos Square in central Baghdad to strongly oppose a planned removal of a monument commemorating Abu Mahdi.
The protesters chanted slogans, pledging that would not allow the removal. They also sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and urged him to stop the plan.
According to Baghdad al-Youm website, the demonstrators also demanded a mass gathering near Baghdad airport on Saturday.
They called on people from all walks of life to press Baghdad municipality and Baghdad airport to continue installing monuments for Muhandis, General Soleimani, and their companions.
Anti-U.S. sentiments have been running deep in Iraq since the assassination.
Two days after the assassination, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the U.S.