- Title: IRAQ: SHI'ITES MARCH IN SUPPORT OF NEW IRAQI CONSTITUTION, MILITIAS.
- Date: 25th August 2005
- Summary: (W3) KERBALA, IRAQ (AUGUST 25, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. PEOPLE, INCLUDING SHI'ITE CLERICS, MARCHING IN KERBALA STREET IN SUPPORT OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION 2. BANNER READING "YES! YES TO CONSTITUTION. CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE ON THE BIRTH OF THE CONSTITUTION" 3. DEMONSTRATORS WAVING THE IRAQI FLAG 4. MORE OF DEMONSTRATORS WAVING THE IRAQI FLAG 5. DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING "ALL THE PEOPLE ARE WITH YOU, SAYYID ALI (AL-SISTANI) AND CARRYING BANNER READING "WE CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE TRIAL FOR THE BAATHISTS, THE SADDAMISTS" 6. VEILED WOMEN TAKING PART IN THE DEMONSTRATION 7. DEMONSTRATORS PUNCHING FISTS INTO THE AIR AND CHANTING "A CROWN ON THE HEAD, YOU SAYYID ALI (AL-SISTANI)" 8. MAN SHOUTING THROUGH LOUDSPEAKER " YES! YES! TO CONSTITUTION" 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), GOVERNOR OF KERBALA, SAYING "The atmosphere is of a real victory that the Iraqi people are currently living. It reflects harmony and consensus among all the Iraqi spectrums on what has been accomplished during the final touches of drafting the Iraqi constitution." 10. DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING "A CROWN ON THE HEAD, YOU SAYYID ALI" 1.19 (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 25, 2005) (REUTERS) 11. ALI AL-DABBAGH, A SHI'ITE MEMBER OF THE CONSTITUTION-DRAFTING COMMITTEE, TALKING TO REPORTERS 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ALI AL-DABBAGH, A SHI'ITE MEMBER OF THE CONSTITUTION-DRAFTING COMMITTEE, SAYING: "The issue of the federalism is still (unresolved). I mean the Sunni Arab brothers did not show a stance that makes us feel they really want to cooperate and conform with others. Conformity does not mean consensus. The problem is that they have a very strict stance, which we can not understand. The issue remains unsolved." 13. CAMERAMEN AND REPORTERS AT CONVENTION CENTRE 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ALI AL-DABBAGH, A SHI'ITE MEMBER OF THE CONSTITUTION-DRAFTING COMMITTEE, SAYING "We did not pass anything. The three-day grace period is not there in the Transitional Administrative Law. We have time until the 15th of October to reach agreement." 2.03 (W3) DIWANIYA, SOUTH OF BAGHDAD (AUGUST 25, 2005) (REUTERS) 15. GV: STREET AND BUILDING IN DIWANIYA CITY 2.11 16. GV: MILITIAMEN OF THE MEHDI ARMY, LOYAL TO SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR, TAKING POSITION ON ROOFTOP OF A BUILDING IN CENTRE OF CITY 2.29 17. TV/PAN: SADR'S SUPPORTERS DEPLOYED TO BUILDING 2.34 18. GV/MV/PAN: ARMED SUPPORTERS OF SADR CARRYING GUNS IN BUILDING INCLUDING WHITE-TURBANED CLERIC HODLING GUN (3 SHOTS) 3.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KERBALA, BAGHDAD, DIWANIYA; IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA2WZVBA6CVNL8GQUI1TSKTSQW4
- Story Text: More than a thousand Shi'ites march in noisy support of new Iraqi constitution.
More than one thousand Shi'ites marched on the streets of the Iraqi
holy city of Kerbala on Thursday (August 25, 2005) in a show of support for the new
constitution.
Chanting "Yes! Yes to the constitution," the demonstrators
carried banners and waved Iraqi flags.
The demonstrators also cheered support for Iraq's highest religious
authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"All of the people are with you Sayyid Ali," shouted the
crowd, as they punched the air with their fists.
The Shiite-Kurdish draft of the constitution would fundamentally
transform Iraq from the highly centralised state as it was under Saddam
Hussein, into a loose federation of Kurds, Shiites and Sunni Arabs.
Sunnis, who dominated Iraqi society under Saddam, oppose that
decentralisation, fearing it would cut them out of the country's oil wealth
and lead to the break-up of Iraq, leaving them powerless.
The constitution provoked a protest in Baghdad and mainly
Sunni-populated areas in northern and western part of the country.
Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is also anti the draft
constitution. This week Sadr mobilised thousands of his supporters for a
protest against the proceedings.
Meanwhile, a member of the constitution-drafting committee did not rule
out the possibility of another extension of the parliamentary vote on the
constitution, because of what he called a "strict stance" by the
Sunni Arabs.
However, later on Thursday, government spokesman Laith Kubba said that
a final version of the constitution had been completed and the document would
be approved later in the day.
He told reporters parliament did not need to formally meet to approve
the charter because it had effectively been passed on Monday. Iraqi lawmakers
had said they would allow three more days for a review of the document in
order to try to bring Sunnis opposed to the deal on board.
A Shi'ite member of the constitution drafting committee, Ali
Al-Dabbagh, denied that the Shi'ite leaders, who are dominating the
government, are expected to push a draft through parliament that is fiercely
opposed by Sadr and Arab Sunnis staging an insurgency.
"We did not pass anything. The three-day grace period is not
mentioned in the Transitional Administrative Law. We have time until the 15th
of October to reach an agreement," Dabbagh said.
Pro-government Shi'ites and Kurds have an overwhelming majority in
parliament, but the constitution would fail if two thirds of voters, in three
of 18 provinces, reject it in October.
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