Protesters occupy Iraq parliament

Thousands of supporters of Iraqi populist leader Moqtada al-Sadr have erected tents and prepared for an open-ended sit-in at Iraq’s parliament.

Loyalists of the Shi’ite Muslim cleric stormed the legislative chamber and took over the empty parliament building on Saturday in a move that could deepen political deadlock in the country.

“We’re staying until our demands are met. And we have many demands,” a member of Sadr’s political team said.

Sadr’s social-political Sadrist Movement is demanding that parliament be dissolved and new elections are held and that federal judges be replaced, the Sadrist official said.

The Sadrist Movement came first in an October election as the largest party in parliament, making up around a quarter of its 329 members.

Iran-aligned parties suffered heavy losses at the polls, with the exception of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, arch-rival of Sadr.

Sadr failed to form a government free of those parties, however, beset by just enough opposition in parliament and federal court rulings that stopped him from getting his choice of president and prime minister.

He withdrew his lawmakers from parliament in protests and has since used his masses of mostly impoverished Shi’ite followers to agitate through street protests.

Also read: Over 60 People Injured in Iraq Protest

The deadlock marks Iraq’s biggest crisis in years. In 2017, Iraqi forces, together with a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian military support, defeated the Sunni Muslim extremist Islamic State group that had taken over a third of Iraq.

Two years later, Iraqis suffering from a lack of jobs and services took to the streets demanding an end to corruption, new elections, and the removal of all parties – especially the powerful Shi’ite groups – that have run the country since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Government forces and Shi’ite militiamen shot dead hundreds of protesters.

Sadr continues to ride the wave of popular opposition to his Iran-backed rivals, saying they are corrupt and serve the interests of Tehran, not Baghdad.

The mercurial cleric, however, maintains a firm grip over large parts of the state, and his Sadrist Movement has long run some of the most corrupt and dysfunctional government departments.

Zainab Sa’id