Iraqi forces shut streets in Baghdad and placed snipers on rooftops on Friday before a protest by followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr against a pact allowing U.S. troops to remain for three more years.

Scores of soldiers with armored vehicles and sniffer dogs blocked off Saadoun Street through the center of the capital ahead of the march after Friday prayers later in the day.

A few hundred early arrivals chanted "No, No USA!" They waved Iraqi flags and carried portraits of Sadr, a Shi'ite cleric who led popular uprisings against U.S. forces, in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.