Protesters obeyed the order of the Shia cleric and left the Green Zone late yesterday afternoon after showing a show of force to the rest of the political formations
Baghdad relived the scenes of chaos from 2016 with the same protagonists and on the same stage. Iraq’s parliament regains calm after a day marked by the attack on the House by hundreds of supporters of Muqtada al-Sader. The protesters obeyed the order of the Shia cleric and left the Green Zone late yesterday afternoon after showing a show of force to the rest of the political formations. Al-Sader took to Twitter to end the protest, telling his followers that “the message has already been received and you have terrified the corrupt. Now you must return home safely.” Six years ago they stormed the House to demand reforms, this time the excuse was the nomination of Mohamed al-Sudani as candidate for prime minister.
Iraqis went to the polls nine months ago, but since then political parties have been unable to agree on forming a government. The power with the most votes in the polls was the party of Al-Sader, a figure that combines his political leadership with his spiritual, but with his 73 seats he could not get the support to get the necessary majority in a chamber of 329 representatives. . Faced with the inability to rule the country, Al-Sader decided a month ago to withdraw his deputies, a move that left the coalition, the “Coordination Framework”, as the main force. When this group, made up of parties loyal to Iran, agreed a week ago to appoint Al-Sudani as the new prime minister, Al-Sader responded by calling on his people to take to the streets and to parliament. Al-Sudani was Minister of Human Rights in Nuri al-Maliki’s government between 2019 and 2014. Iraqis from all provinces, especially from the south of the country, heeded their leader’s call and reaffirmed the power of mobilization of this cleric.
The protesters’ march to parliament, located in the heart of the fortified Green Zone, took place with little resistance from the security forces. There were no deputies in the Chamber and only images have been released of Al-Maliki leaving his office with an Ak47 in hand.
Iran’s growing interference divides the Shia parties, the majority sect of Islam in the country, and during the hours of occupation of the Chamber, slogans were heard against the Islamic Republic’s role in Iraq. In all previous elections, these parties won the majority and voted in favor, but now the consensus has been broken. Al-Sader’s bloc appeals to Iraqi nationalism and wants to take Tehran out of internal affairs. Parties loyal to Iran, some of them the political weapons of militias, see the neighboring country as an ally and recall its main support in the fight against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). Following the sectarian war the country has suffered following the invasion of the United States, the pulse between the Shiites is increasingly accentuated and some experts warn of the risk of a large-scale clash between them.
Source: La Verdad
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