Iraqi Shiites stage demonstration to support Bahrain anti-govenment Shiite protesters

<p>BAGHDAD – Hundreds followers of an Iraqi Shiite party gathered Saturday in Baghdad in a show of solidarity for anti-government protesters in the island kingdom of Bahrain.</p> <p>At least 30 people have died and hundreds have been detained since protests by the Bahrain’s Shiite majority demanding greater rights and freedoms started Feb. 14. They were put down only with a military aid from neighbouring Sunni-led Gulf states.</p> <p>The demonstration in central Khilani Square, organized by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council or SIIC, one of the main Iraqi Shiite parties, demanded that the Bahraini government stop the crackdown against protesters and that the foreign troops, largely Saudi, leave.</p> <p>”We strongly denounce the double standard in the stance of world and the regional countries on the presence of invading forces in Bahrain,” Hadi al-Amiri, a top official of the SIIC, told the demonstrators referring to forces of Gulf states in Bahrain.</p> <p>Gulf countries have sided with the Sunni rulers in Bahrain while Iraq, which is majority Shiite, has been adamant in its support of the protesters, souring already tense relations.</p> <p>On Wednesday the Arab League’s summit scheduled for next month in Baghdad was postponed, the act many Iraqis view as retaliation over Iraq’s support for Shiites in Bahrain.</p>