Demonstrators gather in Mosul demanding departure of US forces

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: A Mosul security source has said on Monday that hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in the city’s Ahrar (Liberals) Square, where a sit-in demonstration entered its 9th day on Sunday. “About 700 demonstrators, including tribal chieftains, leaders and citizens, among them women, have gathered in Al-Ahrar (Liberals) Square in central Mosul, to join a sit-in demonstration, demanding the departure of the U.S. occupation forces from Iraq, release of political prisoners, improvement of services and accounting the corruption elements,” the security source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The security source said that the main demand of the sit-in demonstrators had been centered on rejecting the extension of the U.S. forces presence in Iraq after the end of the period agreed upon between Washington and Baghdad, scheduled to take place at the end of the current year. Mosul, the center of Ninewa Province, is 405 km to the north of Baghdad.   SKH (TI)/SR 770