All-women protest in Iraq

NAJAF: Hundreds of Iraqi women staged a march Wednesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf insisting on their right to play a central role in the protest movement sweeping the country. “No voice can muffle the voices of women,” said one of the marchers, Saba, 22, reacting to a call from influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr against mixed-sex demonstrations. “We started demonstrating to bring down the regime. Now we´re holding women-only marches because they´ve insulted us,” she told AFP. Nada Qassem, a university professor in her 50s, also focused her criticism on Sadr, who at first supported street protests but later turned against them over demonstrators´ alleged use of drugs and alcohol. “We are free. We don´t go out on the orders of a cleric or stop because of some decree,” said Qassem, who herself was injured in attacks on anti-government protesters by Sadr´s supporters. Around 550 people have been killed since the movement erupted in October, almost all in clashes between young demonstrators and security forces.