Hundreds of Moqtada Sadr supporters gathered in Baghdad on 13 August 2004, pledging to travel south to Najaf and form a human chain around the Imam Ali shrine, after reports spread that the militia leader had been wounded in ongoing clashes there. A Sadr spokesman urged followers to march the 180 kilometers to the city on foot after Friday prayers.
The gold-domed shrine holds the tomb of Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, and has drawn Shiite pilgrims for centuries. In April 2003, civilians blocked US soldiers from approaching its gates, which remain closed to non-Muslims.
Outside the fortified Green Zone, a 20-year-old student from Sadr City said a group of 500 women planned to depart that evening. "Our bodies will be armour," she said, describing the march as a holy but peaceful act.
Demonstrations spread to Basra and most major Iraqi cities. In Basra, a Sadr official called on local police and national guardsmen to defect to the Mehdi Army, while separate columns of marchers set out toward Najaf from the nearby city of Kufa.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.