Half a million march for release of hostage

Up to half a million peace demonstrators marched through the centre of Rome at the weekend to demand the release of the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, held hostage in Iraq since February 4.

"My offices have told me that up to 500,000 people are participating in the march," Rome's left-wing Mayor, Walter Veltroni, sai.

"The population has come out to demand Giuliana's release. And we are going to go on demanding it."

The journalist's elderly parents, her companion, Pier Scolari, and staff from her newspaper, the communist daily Il Manifesto, led the march, which came a few days after a tearful Ms Sgrena appeared in a videotape pleading with the Italian Government to save her life by withdrawing its troops from Iraq.

However, the parties in the governing coalition of the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, kept a low profile, and were taking no official part in the march after MPs voted during the week to keep the troops in Iraq.

The march came as appeals were made by the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for the release of two kidnapped Indonesian journalists, Meutya Hafid and a cameraman Budiyanto.
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The violence continued in Iraq over the weekend, with insurgents and suicide bombers targeting mosques and leaving at least 50 dead as Shiites marked Ashura, commemorating the death 14 centuries ago of the founder of their Muslim sect. It was the deadliest day since last month's elections.

The National Security Adviser for the interim government, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, said the bombings were attempts "to create a religious war within Iraq".

"Iraqis will not allow this to happen, Iraqis will stand united as Iraqis foremost, and Iraq will not fall into sectarian war," he said.

At least eight suicide bombers staged attacks in and around Baghdad alone, targeting religious gatherings and Iraqi checkpoints.

The attacks came despite stepped-up security around the country. Authorities had hoped to prevent a repeat of last year's attacks during Ashura in which insurgents killed at least 181 people in twin blasts in Kerbala and Baghdad.

The government announced it had arrested two leaders of the insurgency including Haidar Abu Bawari, a top aide to the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A key figure in the insurgency in the northern city of Mosul, Harbi Abdul Khudair al-Mahmoudi, 50, who is also known as Abu Nor, was also arrested last week, when someone turned him in, the interim government said.

By Denis Barnett and Maggie Michael February 21, 2005
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press

photo caption and source:
Call for freedom ...
demonstrators march past Rome's Colosseum in a rally calling for the release of the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena. Photo: Reuters
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