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8 January 2011
Last updated at 02:59 ET
Anti-US Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has told an enthusiastic crowd of followers in Iraq to give the country's new government a chance.
The radical cleric was making his first speech since returning to his stronghold in Najaf after three years of self-imposed exile in Iran.
Last month his movement secured a deal to join the new government with seven ministries and 39 seats in parliament.
He urged resistance against "occupiers of Iraq" and led chants against the US.
His militia, the Mehdi Army, clashed several times with US and Iraqi forces after the 2003 US-led invasion.
"We are still fighters," he told the crowd of thousands, calling for people to resist the occupiers with any means necessary.
Situation changed Having arrived back in the country on Wednesday, on Thursday the cleric visited one of the holiest sites of Shia Islam, the shrine of the Imam Ali, where thousands of his supporters gathered, chanting loudly and causing a stampede as they jostled to see him.
He later issued a statement criticising their behaviour, begging his supporters "to be disciplined, and not to shout excessive slogans".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that despite his near four-year absence, the charismatic Moqtada Sadr has lost none of his influence on the largely impoverished Shia population of Iraq.
But the situation in Iraq has changed since the cleric fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest, our correspondent adds.
His militia was blamed for the abduction, torture and killing of thousands of Sunnis during the sectarian carnage of 2006 and 2007.
In 2008, the militia clashed with the Iraqi army, commanded by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, and many members were arrested - Moqtada Sadr announced it was laying down arms and disbanding.
But the cleric's support was vital in securing Mr Maliki's second term in office, and his movement is now closely involved in the new government.
With the US preparing to withdraw all its forces in 2011, the emphasis in Iraq is now on supporting the government and promoting unity and prosperity, says our correspondent.
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The radical cleric was making his first speech since returning to his stronghold in Najaf after three years of self-imposed exile in Iran.
Last month his movement secured a deal to join the new government with seven ministries and 39 seats in parliament.
He urged resistance against "occupiers of Iraq" and led chants against the US.
His militia, the Mehdi Army, clashed several times with US and Iraqi forces after the 2003 US-led invasion.
"We are still fighters," he told the crowd of thousands, calling for people to resist the occupiers with any means necessary.
Situation changed Having arrived back in the country on Wednesday, on Thursday the cleric visited one of the holiest sites of Shia Islam, the shrine of the Imam Ali, where thousands of his supporters gathered, chanting loudly and causing a stampede as they jostled to see him.
He later issued a statement criticising their behaviour, begging his supporters "to be disciplined, and not to shout excessive slogans".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that despite his near four-year absence, the charismatic Moqtada Sadr has lost none of his influence on the largely impoverished Shia population of Iraq.
But the situation in Iraq has changed since the cleric fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest, our correspondent adds.
His militia was blamed for the abduction, torture and killing of thousands of Sunnis during the sectarian carnage of 2006 and 2007.
In 2008, the militia clashed with the Iraqi army, commanded by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, and many members were arrested - Moqtada Sadr announced it was laying down arms and disbanding.
But the cleric's support was vital in securing Mr Maliki's second term in office, and his movement is now closely involved in the new government.
With the US preparing to withdraw all its forces in 2011, the emphasis in Iraq is now on supporting the government and promoting unity and prosperity, says our correspondent.
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