![](\"images\/stories\/news2\/iraq-sunni.jpg\")
Hundreds of thousands of Sunni protesters have held anti-government protests in Iraq’s Anbar province, complaining of marginalisation by the Shia-led government. Large rallies were held in the provincial capital of Ramadi and in Fallujah on Friday. Protesters also marched in the capital Baghdad, in the northern city of Mosul and in the central city of Samarra.
In Fallujah and Ramadi, demonstrators performed Friday’s noon prayers, the highlight of the religious week, on the highway, which links Iraq with Jordan.
Protesters complain of official discrimination, saying anti-terrorism laws and other policies largely target minority Sunnis. The protests were sparked by the December arrests of bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, a Sunni.
Tribal leaders and political activists also called protests in Fallujah in solidarity with seven young men killed in clashes between government forces and protesters in the city last week. Tens of thousands of protesters held photographs of those killed in last week’s demonstrations and shouted anti-government slogans.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Fallujah, said many had walked for hours to attend Friday’s protest and had turned the highway into a mosque for the weekly prayers.
“Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing pressure to listen to their demands,” she said, adding that a lot of the protesters, mostly young men, were unemployed and that a lot of them have been in jail.
“They feel they’ve been neglected by the Shia government,” she said.<\/p>\n