The protesters have broken into the headquarters of the Iraqi Parliament in the late afternoon /
The cleric’s supporters storm the ‘Green Zone’ of the capital in protest at the appointment of Mohamed Shia al-Sudani as a candidate for prime minister
Hundreds of supporters of the cleric Muqtada al Sadr stormed the Iraqi Parliament on Wednesday as an act of protest against the appointment of Mohamed Shia al Sudani as a candidate for prime minister by the Coordination Framework coalition.
As detailed by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw, the protesters have pulled down part of the concrete walls that delimit the so-called ‘Green Zone’ of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where most government buildings are located.
The pro-Iranian Coordination Framework bloc, which includes the Shiite State of Law coalition led by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, named Mohamed Shia al-Sudani on Monday as its candidate for the post of prime minister in an attempt to unsettle the political landscape of the country.
After the assault on the seat of Parliament, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mostafá al Kazemi, has urged the demonstrators to leave the place, at the same time that he has called for calm and respect for “peace” and “ public and private property. Barely two hours after the assault, the protesters have withdrawn from the building, following instructions on Twitter from Sadr himself.
The cleric Al Sadr has recently asserted himself as the country’s leading political force and has demanded the resumption of talks to form a government, stalled for months.
Sadr’s attempts to form a government have been blocked by a coalition of pro-Iranian parties and militias with whom the cleric refused in May to reach an alliance.