Sadrist movement announces open sit-in in Iraqi parliament
The Sadrist movement announced the start of an open sit-in inside the Iraqi parliament, following its storming, on Saturday, of demonstrators demanding the overthrow of the political class.
Thousands of Sadrist elements stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad and entered the parliament hall for the second time within days.
Intermittent confrontations between demonstrators and the force charged with protecting the Green Zone. He said that the sound of tear gas canisters could be heard whenever demonstrators tried to reach the area.
Since the morning hours, thousands of Sadr supporters have gathered at the Jisr al-Jumhuriya leading to the Green Zone, removing concrete barriers on the bridge.
Our correspondent reported that the demonstrators were trying to storm the Supreme Judicial Council in the fortified area.
Al-Sadr’s supporters demand that Mohammed Shiyaa al-Sudani not be nominated for the post of prime minister, but demands have been raised to topple the entire political class in Iraq, our correspondent said.
Iraq has been in a political crisis since the parliamentary elections in October last year. After the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, failed to form a government, he ordered his 73 deputies to resign and to replace them with candidates from the coordinating framework that includes anti-Sadr political forces close to Iran.
The coordination framework took advantage of this absence to form a new government in Iraq, which Sadr refused to do, and his supporters came out in protest of the Coordination Framework’s decision.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi instructed security forces to protect demonstrators on Saturday, as intermittent clashes erupted between demonstrators and security forces, leaving 60 people injured.
“The continuation of the political escalation increases tension in the street in a way that does not serve public interests,” al-Kadhimi said. “The security forces have a duty to protect official institutions and the need to take all legal measures to maintain order.”
Call for counter-demonstrations
On Saturday, the coordination framework that includes Shiite powers other than the Sadrist movement called on its supporters to demonstrate against the Sadrist movement’s protests.
“We call on the masses of the Iraqi people who believe in the law, the constitution and constitutional legitimacy to demonstrate peacefully in defense of the state, its legitimacy and its institutions, foremost among them the judicial and legislative authorities, to stand against this dangerous violation and to deviate from the law, customs and sharia,” the statement said.
In its statement, the coordinating framework held “the government fully responsible with regard to the protection of constitutional institutions.”
He also held the political parties that are behind what he described as the escalation and the encroachment on the state and its institutions fully responsible for what might happen to “civil peace as a result of these illegal acts.”
