Iraq Thousands of protesters in central Baghdad follow the call of a cleric to protest the US military presence.

The protest took place this afternoon when thousands of people appeared in al-Hurriya square and university in the center of Baghdad, Iraq's capital. The party did not pass through Tahrir Square, the site of protests against the Iraqi government in recent months.

The operation came after cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a "one million people" protest to pressure the United States to withdraw troops from Iraq. Participants waved the Iraqi flag, shouting slogans against the US such as "the occupants must disappear" and "support for sovereignty".

The Sadaya's Saraya al-Salam Brigade and the Iraqi General Mobilization Force (PMU) deploy militias to protect protesters. It is not clear whether the group will advance to the US embassy, but all roads to the Green Zone, the area where government buildings and foreign diplomatic missions are located, have been blocked.

Rabbi Sadr objected to any foreign intervention in Iraq, but recently expressed a close relationship with Iran.

After a rocket attack killed a contractor and injured several US servicemen in northern Iraq in December, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an air raid. Click near Baghdad airport.

A few days later, the Iraqi parliament voted to pass a resolution to end the presence of foreign military forces in Iraq, including the US military. This resolution is effective only if approved by the Iraqi cabinet.

About 5,300 US servicemen and hundreds of international partners remain in Iraq. Trump has threatened unprecedented economic sanctions and will demand Baghdad pay billions of dollars to US air bases there in response to the decision of the Iraqi parliament.