For the second time in a few days, supporters of the influential Shiite political leader Moqtada Sadr invaded the Iraqi Parliament on Saturday, after entering the ultra-secure green zone of Baghdad, during a new day of protests in a country shaken by a new political crisis.
Brandishing Iraqi flags, portraits of Moqtada Sadr and flags with religious insignia, hundreds of demonstrators crowded the entrance hall of Parliament before entering the hemicycle, reported AFP journalists on the spot. Already on Wednesday, demonstrators had briefly occupied Parliament. Inside the building, the demonstrators strolled in the hemicycle making the sign of victory and taking selfies, in a good-natured atmosphere. They indicated that they would occupy Parliament until further notice.
The political deadlock is total in Iraq, which is still awaiting the appointment of a new president and a prime minister, ten months after the October 2021 legislative elections. Kingmaker and troublemaker on the political scene, Moqtada Sadr launched a campaign of maximum pressure against his adversaries, rejecting their candidate for the post of head of government.
Saturday morning, several thousand demonstrators gathered in front of a bridge in Baghdad climbed concrete blocks erected successively to block the way and hundreds of them managed to enter the green zone after crossing the bridge in the Republic. At the entrance to this area, the security forces fired tear gas to drive away the protesters and water cannons were activated.
No consensus
The demonstrators denounce the candidacy for the post of Prime Minister of Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, considered close to the former head of government Nouri al-Maliki, historical enemy of Moqtada Sadr.
Although he has now decided to keep up the pressure on his adversaries, Moqtada Sadr had nevertheless left them the task of forming a government, causing his 73 deputies to resign in June: they represented the first force in the Parliament of 329 deputies.
(with AFP)