CPTnet
August 27, 2004
IRAQ: CPTers participate in massive nonviolent procession to Najaf by David
Milne
Eight lanes of traffic streamed toward Najaf. In cars and minivans, on
buses and flatbed trucks, tens of thousands of men, young and old, sang
and danced. As they passed the taxi carrying CPTers Peggy Gish, Greg
Rollins, and David Milne, many smiled and waved "Hello." Thousands more
walked. They followed the path of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani who
had passed by not more than an hour ago.
All had responded to Sistani's request that people gather in Najaf to
support his attempt to bring a peaceful solution to the bloody conflict
and to reclaim their holy site. Shortly before, Sheikh Abdullah Mehdi,
the leader of the shrine in Kerbala, spoke to CPT and its partner, Iraqi
Human Rights Watch-Kerbala (IHRW-K.) He said, "Sistani did not issue a
fatwa (a religious order) but an invitation." The Sheikh thanked CPT for
its support of this call. The CPTers heard occasional shots as they
approached the street leading to the checkpoint for entry to the old
city. At an intersection, they learned the Iraqi police had closed the
checkpoint, so they returned to a lot two hundred meters away.
The representative of IHRW-K told the group that Sistani now asked
supporters to go home. Sistani had entered the old city and begun talks
with the opposing forces. Iraqi police had killed four Iraqis who had
tried to pass the nearby checkpoint less than two hours ago earlier. The
representative and his group were going home now and CPT followed his
lead. Just after their vehicles left the lot, streams of bullets whistled
nearby and ricocheted off concrete. CPTers heard continuous gunfire as
they left the area.
In a place of safety, the representative told CPT that though he felt
sadness that the Iraqi police had killed his countrymen, he also felt joy,
hope, and confidence. The Iraqi people had made a new beginning. They
turned out in massive numbers and behaved peacefully to help end the
violence.
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