Thousands of Iraqi Shiites took to the streets on Friday in Baghdad's eastern slum of Sadr City inprotest of Israel's offensive on Lebanese Hezbollah.

Holding high yellow flags of Hezbollah, thousands of Shiites wearing white robes gathered in Sadr City from Baghdad and other Shiite cities in response to a call from radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for opposition to the ongoing Israeli offensive on Lebanon.

The demonstrators, most of them loyalists of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, were chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

Iraqi security forces deployed at the neighborhood and policemen were patrolling, while dozens of mobile checkpoints were set up.

The Shiite-predominant Iraqi government approved the protest despite a four-hour traffic ban during the weekly Muslim prayers on Friday.

"We have permitted the peaceful demonstration, which should take no longer than two or three hours," the government said in a statement on Thursday.