The march in the southern city of Kufa came a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to discuss the deal, which includes a gradual withdrawal of US forces.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, met Iraqi leaders in a surprise visit to the country a day earlier to put pressure on Iraqi leaders to push through the deal.
According to US and Iraqi sources, the draft agreement calls for US soldiers to withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of next June.
They would remain on bases across the country, however, providing backup support to Iraqi forces until the end of 2011.
When finalised, the pact will still have to be ratified by the Iraqi parliament and the veto-wielding presidency council.
In Kufa, about 2,000 protesters marched after Friday prayers, chanting "No to America" and and waving Iraqi flags.
Some held up banners reading "The dubious agreement means a permanent colonisation of Iraq" and "Iraq is not a US colony".
An aide to al-Sadr, Sheik Dia al-Shawki, told those gathered that the deal goes against the will of the Iraqi people.
In Baghdad people set fire to American flags while local leaders denounced an ambiguous agreement "that the Iraqi people know nothing about".
One of the most contentious issues of the security deal is Iraqi jurisdiction over US soldiers and military contractors, as the Iraqi forces assume greater responsibility.
The draft agreement says that private US contractors would be subject to Iraqi law - unlike at present. However, US troops would remain under US jurisdiction.
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source : aljazeera
Monday
15 June 2009
7:30:00 PM
117737
Thousands of Iraqis have marched in protest against an imminent US-Iraqi security agreement, saying it would turn the country into a colony of the US.