The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Baghdad

Iraqi forces shut streets in Baghdad and placed snipers on rooftops on Friday before a protest by followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr against a pact allowing U.S. troops to remain for three more years.

Scores of soldiers with armored vehicles and sniffer dogs blocked off Saadoun Street through the center of the capital ahead of the march after Friday prayers later in the day.

A few hundred early arrivals chanted "No, No USA!" They waved Iraqi flags and carried portraits of Sadr, a Shi'ite cleric who led popular uprisings against U.S. forces, in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The Iraqi government signed the pact earlier this week and parliament is expected to vote on it next week. The Sadrists oppose it outright and other groups have expressed reservations.

Senior Sadr aide Hazim al-Araji prepared for the rally under the gaze of rooftop snipers in Baghdad's central Firdos square, where U.S. troops toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein shortly after the invasion.

"Today is the day of Iraqi unity among Arabs, Kurds, all communities of Iraq, to reject the security pact. These people are coming out to prove the security pact is worthless," he told Reuters.

"Of course it will be very big," he said of the rally. "One hundred percent, it will be peaceful."

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ridiculed the Sadrist stance, saying Sadrists had demanded a firm date for U.S. troops to withdraw and when he delivered it they opposed it.

The pact requires U.S. troops to leave the streets of Iraqi towns by the middle of next year and to leave the country by December 31, 2011. U.S. forces will need Iraqi warrants to arrest people and U.S. contractors will be subjected to Iraqi law.

The firm withdrawal date was a major concession from the outgoing U.S. administration of President George W. Bush, who long opposed setting any deadline, and is a sign of the increasing confidence of the Iraqi government in negotiations.

Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers earlier this year, driving his black-masked Mehdi Army fighters off the streets of Baghdad and cities of the Shi'ite south.

U.S. officials say Sadr has been in neighboring Iran since last year.

Violence in Iraq has fallen to levels unseen since the early days after the invasion. But militants are able to carry out bomb attacks. A roadside bomb at a checkpoint in Baghdad's southern Doura neighborhood killed three people and wounded 15 early on Friday.