Baghdad: Thousands of Shiites protest arrest of Al Fartusi

Angry demontrators carried anti-US banners marched to US interim headquarters at Republic Sqaure. The protestors chanted slogans supporting Al Fartusi and opposed US-led forces as saying "Leave Iraq". Shiites claimed that US soldiers arrested three mullahs from Baghdad on their way back from Karbala at the al-Dora checkpoint at midnight. There are no independent report of detention of Al Fartusi who led the first open prayers in the sprawling northern Shiite slum of Saddam City last Friday.