Violence mars poll campaign

Baghdad: Campaigning around Iraq came to a stop on Wednesday to give the country's 15 million voters an opportunity to reflect before deciding who will be elected to the 275-member Parliament.

But an otherwise calm day was disrupted by demonstrations staged by thousands of Shiites angered over disparaging remarks made about them by a fellow Shiite politician on an Al Jazeera television talk show late on Tuesday.

The demonstrations, which turned into political rallies, threatened to further polarise the elections after angry Shiites in the southern city of Nasiriyah set fire to a building housing the offices of former interim Prime Minister Eyad Allawi.

Hundreds of Iraqi Shiites protested in Najaf and Baghdad against what they claimed were defamatory comments about Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani aired on Al Jazeera television.

The demonstrators, on foot and in pick-up trucks, with others provided a motorcycle escort, paraded through the streets of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, chanting: "Sayyed Ali, the people are with you!".

In a debate Tuesday night entitled "Against the Tide", the London-based Iraqi writer Fadel Al Rubaei said Shiite religious leaders had "favoured the entry of American troops in Iraq" and urged Iraqis not to resist the occupation.