The protesters obeyed the order of the Shiite cleric and late yesterday afternoon they left the Green Zone after having made a show of force to the rest of the political formations
Baghdad revived the scenes of chaos from 2016 with the same protagonists and on the same stage. The Iraqi Parliament regains calm after a day marked by the assault on the House by hundreds of supporters of Muqtada al-Sader. The demonstrators obeyed the order of the Shiite cleric and late yesterday afternoon they left the Green Zone after having made a show of force to the rest of the political formations. Al-Sader took to Twitter to end the protest and told his followers that “the message has already been received and you have terrified the corrupt. Now you must return safely to your homes.” Six years ago they stormed the House to demand reforms, this time the excuse was the appointment of Mohamed al-Sudani as a candidate for prime minister.
Iraqis went to the polls nine months ago, but since then the political parties have been unable to reach agreements to form a government. The force with the most votes at the polls was Al-Sader’s party, a figure that combines his political leadership with his spiritual one, but with his 73 seats he was unable to gather support to gain the necessary majority in a chamber with 329 representatives. Faced with the impossibility of governing the country, Al-Sader decided a month ago to withdraw his deputies, a move that left the coalition called 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 reacted with a call to his people to take to the streets and to Parliament. Al-Sudani was Minister of Human Rights in the Government of Nuri al-Maliki between 2019 and 2014. Iraqis from all provinces, especially from the south of the country, responded to their leader’s call and once again made clear the power of mobilization of this cleric.
No opposition from the armed forces
The march of the demonstrators towards the parliament, located in the heart of the fortified Green Zone, took place with little resistance from the security forces. There were no deputies inside the Chamber and only images of Al-Maliki leaving his office with an Ak47 in his hand have been released.
The growing interference of Iran divides the Shiite parties, the majority sect of Islam in the country, and during the hours that the occupation of the Chamber lasted, slogans were heard against the role of the Islamic Republic in Iraq. In all the previous elections these parties obtained the majority and agreed, but now the consensus has been broken. Al-Sader’s bloc appeals to Iraqi nationalism and wants Tehran out of internal affairs. Parties loyal to Iran, some of them the political arms of militias, see the neighbor as an ally and recall its key support during the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. After the sectarian war suffered by the country after 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.
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