Three days after the 2006 bombing, Nasrallah organised a protest in Karbala condemning the bombing of the al-Askari shrine. Three thousand people joined in the protest, and from there they decided to go to Samarra. However upon reaching Latifiya, they were stopped by troops from both the US and Iraqi army. As much as Nasrallah insisted they let them through, they were denied. In the end, he was connected to Nouri al-Maliki's personal assistant, who made it clear to Nasrallah that it was impossible for the troops to allow them to proceed for a number of reasons. Despite Nasrallah's countless attempts at convincing al-Maliki's assistant that all they wanted to do was go and protect the shrine from any further potential danger, they were denied. These sentiments were shared by the vast majority of Iraqis, who wanted their country to remain whole and free of ethnic conflict.