On the eve of Petraeus’s testimony, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said he was calling off a million-man protest today to mark the fifth-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US troops. In a statement read by spokesperson Salah al-Obaidi, Sadr said he feared the US and Iraqi military would crack down on the protests.

Salah al-Obaidi: “I call those beloved Iraqi people who wish to demonstrate against the occupation to postpone their march, out of my fear for them and my concern to spare their blood.”

Before Sadr’s cancellation, Iraqi forces had set up dozens of checkpoints to block followers from attending the rally. Sadr also renewed his threat to lift a six-month freeze on his group’s military activities. The freeze had been credited with a drop in violence around Iraq until the most recent US-Iraqi offensive. Clashes continue between Shia fighters and US-Iraqi forces in Baghdad. Dozens of fighters and twelve US troops have been killed across Iraq since Sunday. US attacks on Iraqi civilians are also on the rise. An unknown number of civilians were killed in Sadr City Monday when US warplanes bombed a street area. A witness said the US military attacked again after civilians had gathered at the scene.

Witness: “I was heading to Zain al-A’abideen mosque for prayer when the warplanes attacked (this area). When people gathered at scene of attack, the warplanes bombed them again. There were many casualties. What did those people do?”