Around 2,000 supporters of Sadr demonstrated in the town of Kufa, chanting anti-US slogans a day after Biden paid his first visit to Iraq since Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki was reappointed.

“In our protest, we demand that visits like Biden’s to Iraq should not be repeated and that the occupier leaves,” said Mohammed Abbas, 25, a day laborer.

Sadr’s movement has won a powerful place in Al-Maliki’s new government, with seven ministries.

His clout will make it difficult for Al-Maliki to contemplate an extension of the US military presence beyond the end of the year, when the US forces that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003 must withdraw under the terms of a security pact.

Biden visited Iraq on Thursday for talks with Iraqi officials, his seventh visit since January 2009. Iraqi officials said he and Al-Maliki did not discuss keeping any US troops in Iraq beyond the withdrawal deadline.

Sadr returned home last week from years of self-imposed exile in Iran.

In his first public speech in the holy city of Najaf last Saturday, he urged his supporters to denounce the US presence and demand the government of which his movement is a part live up to a promise to make the US military withdraw on time.

“We have responded to Sayyed Sadr’s call and demonstrated against the United States, the occupation, and the unwelcome visit of the US vice president to Iraq,” said Ali Saad, 35, also a day laborer.

The number of US troops in Iraq fell below 50,000 last August when the US military switched its role to advising and assisting its Iraqi counterparts, rather than leading the fight against a weakened but still lethal insurgency.