Basra protest against British presence

Anti-British slogans were shouted as part of the demonstration

A group of around 2,000 Shi'ite Muslims have staged a demonstration against the presence of British forces in Basra, according to reports.

The protesters marched through the southern Iraqi city demanding the withdrawal of British occupation forces.

"No to Tony Blair, no to Satan," shouted the protesters, led by clerics.

Al-Jazeera reported hundreds of lawyers staging their own demonstration in Basra to demand the British rid the judiciary of Ba'thists they reinstated after the war.

The Shi'ites chanted in front of the headquarters of the British military command in Basra.

'Pull-out'

"Leave peacefully lest we expel you through our jihad (holy war)," they chanted in front of the headquarters of the British military command controlling southern Iraq.

The demonstrators handed British officers a petition demanding a British pull-out to the outskirts of the city.

They were said to have rallied on the instructions of an organisation named after Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, a leading Shi'ite religious authority whose 1999 assassination was blamed on Saddam Hussein's regime.

Soldiers stood guard at the central military command during the protest

The petition also called for "Iraqi national committees to be allowed to ensure law and order in Basra province" and to dismiss the UN Security Council Resolution 1483 adopted last month, claiming it legitimised the occupation of Iraq.

"Where is freedom when the governor is a foreigner and the council is unelected?" said one banner raised by the protesters, referring to plans for the proposed Iraqi interim administration.

Meanwhile a Polish-led force of 7,000 peacekeeping troops from 15 countries has been assembled to patrol a southern sector of Iraq.

It will include 2,000 Polish troops, 1,800 from the Ukraine and 1,100 Dutch.

Earlier this month around 5,000 Iraqis, led by Shi'ite Muslim clerics, took to the streets of Basra to protest against a British commander being installed as the de facto leader of the city.