HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT,
Iraqi protesters have breached the Iraqi parliament again in a show of support for influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, days after storming the legislative body and suspending a session to name a new prime minister.
Security forces on Saturday fired tear gas canisters and hurled sound bombs as protesters used ropes to pull and climb over a series of large concrete barriers surrounding the Green Zone, which cordons off government buildings and embassies foreign
“All the people are with you Sayyid Muqtada,” chanted the protesters, using his title as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s media office had issued a statement asking security officials to ensure the security of state institutions.
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Baghdad, said the protesters did not back down despite reports of several injuries.
He added that on Wednesday, when a large crowd occupied the Parliament building, security forces had allowed the large crowds to enter the perimeter relatively unimpeded.
The protesters oppose the candidacy of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a former minister and former provincial governor, who is the choice of the pro-Iran Coordination Framework for the post of prime minister.
The vote announcing al-Sudani’s position as prime minister was scheduled to take place on Saturday, but the session was suspended after Wednesday’s events.
Abdelwahed said al-Sadr’s supporters had regrouped because they did not trust parliament to not go ahead with the vote. “They say that the fact that the session has been suspended does not mean that the vote cannot continue behind closed doors,” he said.
Supporters of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold a photograph of their leader inside the country’s parliament [Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP]
Al-Sadr’s bloc emerged from the October election as the largest parliamentary faction, but still fell short of a majority.
Ten months later, the deadlock persists with the installation of a new government – the longest since the 2003 US invasion that restored political order in the oil-rich country.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said people are calling for change. “They don’t want the previous corrupt politicians to stay in power, they don’t want the country to have one [interference] by the United States and Iran,” the report said, speaking from inside the occupied parliament.
“We are here for a revolution,” said protester Haydar al-Lami.
“We don’t want the corrupt, we don’t want those who have been in power back… since 2003… they have only hurt us.”
Although al-Sadr’s alliance won the majority of seats in October’s parliamentary elections, the contending political parties fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to elect a president, an important step before a prime minister can be selected.
After negotiations stalled, al-Sadr withdrew his bloc from parliament and announced he was pulling out of talks to form a government.
Mass mobilization is a well-used strategy of al-Sadr, a mercurial figure who has emerged as a powerful force with a nationalist and anti-Iranian agenda.
Wednesday’s parliament storming came after al-Sadr’s Tehran-backed political rival, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, named a pro-Iranian politician as Iraq’s new leader.
By convention, the post of prime minister rests with a leader of Iraq’s Shiite majority.