A national march against the presence of United States forces, organized by a populist Shiite cleric and armed groups with ties to Iran, drew a crowd estimated at 200,000 to 250,000.

A huge crowd of Iraqis, waving national flags, took to the streets in Baghdad on Friday to demand the ouster of American troops.
Credit…
Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Alissa J. Rubin and Falih Hassan
Jan. 24, 2020
Updated 11:06 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD — Throngs of Iraqis gathered on the streets of the capital, Baghdad, in the early hours of Friday to protest the United States military presence in the country at the behest of a leading populist cleric and of armed forces with ties to Iran.

The demonstration comes three weeks after the United States launched a drone strike in capital that killed the Iranian commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and a prominent member of the…