Supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr have stormed the parliament building inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified “Green Zone” for the second time in three days.
The demonstrators were seen waving Iraqi flags and pictures of Sadr inside the legislature on Saturday, as thousands protested outside amid a deep political crisis that has left Iraq without a government since October elections.
Iraqi security forces used tear gas and sound bombs to try to repel the demonstrators. An expected parliament session did not take place and there were no lawmakers in the hall.
One by one, demonstrators used ropes to pull down cement barricades leading to the gate of “Green Zone”, which houses official buildings and foreign embassies. They had come to protest the formation of the next government by Iran-backed parties.
Sadr’s bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction, but was still far short of a majority. And 10 months on, deadlock persists over the establishment of a new government.
Supporters of the Shia cleric oppose the recently announced candidacy of Mohammed al-Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, who is the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s pick for premier.
Crisis deepens
The protests are the latest challenge for oil-rich Iraq, which remains mired in a political and a socioeconomic crisis despite elevated global crude prices.
Crowds of Sadr supporters on Wednesday breached the Green Zone amid volleys of tear gas fire. They occupied the parliament building, singing, dancing and taking selfies before leaving two hours later — but only after Sadr told them to leave.
“We came today to remove the corrupt political class and prevent them from holding a parliament session, and to prevent the Framework from forming a government,” said Raad Thabet, 41, said on Saturday.
Another protester, Haydar al-Lami, said: “We are here for a revolution…We don’t want the corrupt; we don’t want those who have been in power to return… since 2003…they have only brought us harm.”
By convention, the post of prime minister goes to a leader from Iraq’s Shia majority.
Sadr, a former militia leader, had initially supported the idea of a “majority government”. That would have sent his Shia adversaries from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework into opposition.
The Coordination Framework draws lawmakers from former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s party and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, the political arm of the Shia-led former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi.
But last month, Sadr’s 73 lawmakers quit in a move seen as seeking to pressure his rivals to fast-track the establishment of a government. Sixty-four new lawmakers were sworn in later in June, making the pro-Iran bloc the largest in parliament.
That triggered the fury of Sadr’s supporters, who according to a security source also ransacked the Baghdad office of Maliki’s Daawa party on Friday night, as well as that of the Hikma movement of Ammar al-Hakim which is a part of the Coordination Framework.
