Hundreds demonstrate against sectarian violence in Baghdad, Mosul

More than 2,500 demonstrators of different religious and ethnic backgrounds took to the streets of Mosul and the capital, Baghdad, to protest the sectarian violence that has caused hundreds of deaths in the past three weeks. The 14 March demonstrations were organised by several local NGOs, including the Peace for Life Organisation (PLO), Iraqis for Development and Peace, the Women Rights Association and Iraq Relief for People. "Someone should do something to stop the killing of innocent people, including children,” said Muhammad Shukry, spokesman for the Mosul-based PLO. “The violence is increasing and a civil war may result if urgent action isn’t taken." Demonstrators opined that religious differences were being used to fuel local disputes, which they said represented a new phenomenon in Iraq. "People who want to cause death and destruction bomb a Shi'ite mosque one day and a Sunni mosque the next day,” said Mahmoud Zein, a protest organiser in Mosul, located some 400km north of Baghdad. “We have to open our eyes and prevent this dastardly game from continuing." In a show of national unity, Arab Shi'ites and Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Turcomans took part in the demonstrations. "We are here today from different areas, representing different beliefs, but with the same goals: peace and prosperity for our families and the country," Zein said. In the capital, religious leaders – from both the Shi'ite district of Sadr City and the Sunni district of Adhamiyah – also participated in the demonstration. "We shouldn’t blame ourselves for the ongoing violence,” said Sheikh Ali Obaid, a Shi’ite religious leader from Sadr City. “Instead of fanning it, we should fight to end it." According to government officials, some 500 people have been killed due to sectarian violence since the 22 February bombing of a revered Shi’ite shrine in Samara, roughly 100km northwest of Baghdad. The situation worsened when 60 people were killed in two separate car bomb attacks in Sadr City on 12 March. Shi'ite cleric and leader of the Mehdi Army militia Moktada al-Sadr urged restraint in the wake of the incidents, promising his militia would not initiate reprisals against Sunni targets. "We will help to build peace in Iraq and not more violence,” said Jalil al-Shimmari, spokesperson for al-Sadr and a participant in the Baghdad demonstration. “Those responsible [for the violence] should pay – not the innocent people."