Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have stormed the country's parliament to denounce the nomination of its prime minister and expressed their support of cleric leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
During the incident, there were no lawmakers present in parliament when the demonstrators penetrated the capital's high-security Green Zone on Wednesday. Only security forces were within the building grounds during the protest and they appeared to allow the crowd to come in with relative ease.
Iraq Protests
The demonstrators opposed the candidacy of former minister and ex-provincial governor Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The official is known to be a pro-Iran Coordination Framework pick for premier.
In a statement, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called on the demonstrators to "immediately withdraw" from the Green Zone. He warned that security forces would see to "the protection of state institutions and foreign missions, and prevent any harm to security and order."
Al-Sadr's bloc won 73 seats in Iraq's October 2021 election, which made it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament. However, since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled and al-Sadr has stepped down from the political process, as per Aljazeera.
On Wednesday, protesters carried portraits of the Shia leader as riot police used water cannons to repel the crowd of people pulling down cement blast walls. However, many were able to breach the gates to the area.
The protesters then walked down the Green Zone's main thoroughfare, with dozens gathering outside the doors to the parliament building. Riot police assembled at the doors to the main gates as demonstrators crowded around two entrances to the Green Zone, with some scaling the cement wall and chanting, "Al-Sudani, out!"
According to CNN, Iraq has struggled to form a new government since parliamentary elections in October, and Sadr's attempts have previously foundered amid opposition from rival blocs. In a televised speech in June, Sadr said, "If the Sadrist bloc remaining [in parliament] is an obstacle to government formation, then all lawmakers of the bloc are honorably ready to resign from parliament."
Cleric Leader
The cleric is immensely popular among Iraqi residents as his bloc's success in the October vote threatened to sideline Iran-aligned Shiite blocs that have long dominated the oil-rich country's politics. In a Twitter post, Sadr said that a revolution of reform and rejection of injustice and corruption is a message that he had received from the people.
One protester, Mohamed Ali, a 41-year-old day laborer, said that he was against the corrupt officials who remained in power. Other people near the parliament building waved national flags, took photographs, chanted, and cheered.
Despite al-Kadhemi's calls for the protesters' withdrawal, it took Sadr's orders before the crowds of people started to leave nearly two hours after the demonstrations began. The crowds chanted "We obey the Sayyed" as they peacefully left parliament. The term is to honor Sadr by acknowledging him as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
The Coordination Framework draws lawmakers from former premier Nuri al-Maliki's party and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, which is the political arm of the Shia-led former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi, The Guardian reported.
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