Iraq, protests are increasingly violent and inflame the country after al-Sadr’s farewell
The tension in Iraq. The country for almost a paralyzed year because of failure to appoint of a government, in a stalemate whose end is not in sight. The leader Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr he announced his “final withdrawal” from political life, sparking the reaction of his supporters who raided the government building in Baghdad.
Eight protesters were killed and another 85 injured, according to medical sources, during clashes with Shia rivals of the pro-Iranian Coordination Framework Alliance. The army decreed a curfew in the Iraqi capital – largely ignored by protesters – and then extended it to the whole country. Security forces intervened by firing tear gas to disperse al-Sadr supporters at the entrance to the Green Zone, the fortified area where embassies, international organizations and government buildings are located.
“The escalation extremely dangerous” worries the mission Un (Unami), who urged the “demonstrators to leave the area immediately”, urging “everyone to avoid gestures that could trigger an unstoppable chain of events”. An “alarming” situation also for the White House which urged calm and dialogue.
The strategy of the al-Sadr, a central figure in Iraqi life for twenty years, first as commander of a ferocious armed resistance against the Americans and then as a political leader, deployed in recent years against sectarianism and corruption in favor of reforms. Descendant of a famous family of religious notables, devoted to ‘martyrdom’ (both his father and father-in-law, both well-known, were killed by Saddam Hussein), he enjoys enormous popular support.
For years he has been involved – indirectly – in the management of the country but, at the same time, he is a supporter of anti-government protests that have led thousands of people, especially young people, to take to the streets against impossible living conditions, corruption, lack of of work and services.
In announcing his goodbye at the politicsthe Shiite leader has attached his rivals and opponents accusing them of not following his appeal two days ago in which he urged “all parties” to leave their positions of power to help resolve the stalemate. “I have decided not to get involved in political affairs“, he stressed in the tweet, specifying that” all institutions “linked to the Sadrist movement will be closed, with the exception of his father’s mausoleum.
Despite emerging as the winner of the electoral round in October 2021 by winning the most seats (73), his party did not win a majority and failed to form a government due to strong disagreements with Shia-backed rivals. from Iran – of the Coordination Framework Alliance.
TO June his deputies yes. I am discharged and has been in ever since course a hard one political crisis which saw supporters of al-Sadr storming into parliament and holding a sit-in outside the building at the end of July, preventing rivals from appointing president and premier. The clash also involved the Supreme Judicial Council to which the Shiite leader has appealed, without success so far, to obtain the dissolution of Parliament; a new Federal Supreme Court meeting is expected tomorrow
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