Sunnis protest new constitution

Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit today to denounce Iraq’s new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.

Sunni leaders have urged their community to defeat the charter in a nationwide referendum on October 15, saying it had been rammed through the drafting committee by the dominant Shiite Arab and Kurdish alliance.