BAGHDAD, 20 March 2005 — Tens of thousands of protesters worldwide yesterday demanded an end to foreign troop presence in Iraq two years after the US-led invasion as Iraq’s Sunnis were still undecided about joining the political process.

Thousands of people gathered in London brandishing posters denouncing the “war on terror” and the US-led invasion of Iraq. Protesters placed a coffin in front of the US Embassy with “100,000 dead” written on it.

Similar protests swept Rome, Athens, Stockholm and several Turkish cities.

President George W. Bush defended the decision to invade Iraq saying elections in the violence-torn country have inspired democracy in the region.

But in a reminder of the daily bloodshed plaguing Iraq two years on, three policemen were killed and seven others badly wounded when a bomb exploded in Kirkuk as the funeral cortege of a comrade passed by, police chief Gen. Turhan Yussef said.

An Iraqi-Swedish Christian politician freed from captivity on Friday said he sympathized with the protesters’ demands.

Minas Ibrahim Al-Yussufi, secretary-general of Iraq’s Christian Democratic Party, said his “kidnappers demanded the departure of US troops from Iraq. And we, with the Committee of Muslim Scholars, have one simple demand: A timetable for the withdrawal of American forces.”

Speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of the Sunni committee at Baghdad’s Umm Al-Qura Mosque, he said: “I urge (US) President George W. Bush to rethink his plans and leave Iraq to the Iraqis.”

Meanwhile, Shiites and Kurds have been eager to carve a role for Sunnis in the next government, aware that the tenacious insurgency is centered in Sunni-dominated areas like Mosul, Samarra and Al-Anbar province.

Leaders of the Kurdish Alliance confirmed yesterday that they have reached an agreement with the Shiites over the principles of the next government and the thorny issue of the fate of the disputed northern oil city of Kirkuk and the Kurdish peshmerga militia.

Both sides have agreed that the issues will be dealt with in accordance with the interim laws passed under the previous US-led occupation.

“We, the two main lists, have agreed on the principles and the door is open now for the other lists,” said senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Ruj Shawis.

— With input from agencies