Shias march in Baghdad to demand polls

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Monday 19 January 2004, 14:05 Makka Time, 11:05 GMT

Thousands of Shias staged a demonstration in the centre of Baghdad on Monday in support of demands by a top cleric for the US-led coalition to abandon power-transfer plans in favour of full elections.

The protests came in advance of crucial talks in New York at which US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, is expected to urge the United Nations to help push forward his timetable for Iraqi sovereignty.

"Yes, yes to Islam, yes, yes to the Hawza, no no to terrorism," shouted the protesters who numbered about 4000.

The Hawza is a network of Islamic seminaries headed by a group of clerics considered a religious authority, or marjaa, including Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, who has challenged the coalition's plan to install a provisional government by June.

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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E282B862-5CA6-462F-B5DC-AFA9ACF8D43F.htm