Sadr supporters resume protests in Baghdad, rejecting PM candidate
Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr once again took to the streets in Baghdad on Saturday to protest against the recent nomination of a politician for the position of prime minister and entered the Iraqi capital’s green zone taking down the concrete blocks.
The demonstrators rushed to Tahrir Square early in the morning, holding up pictures of the movement’s leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and chanting slogans in support of him.
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— Rasan Remzi (@RasanRemzi) July 30, 2022
Başkent Bağdatta büyük gösteri için Sadr yandaşları Tahrir Meydanında toplanmaya devam ediyor. Diğer yandan ise Yeşil Bölgeye girişler kapatılmışken göstericiler engelleri tek tek yıkmaya çalışıyor.
????Emniyet güçler için her hangi bir müdahale emri yok. pic.twitter.com/PqNtfOEt88
Throughout the night Sadr supporters had raided the offices of al-Hikma movement after their leader Ammar al-Hakim’s speech on Friday on Sadrist demonstrations.
“I ask that there be a clear mechanism for electing the president of the republic and not put it in demonstrations and closed meetings,” Al-Hakim said in front of a large crowd of his supporters in Al-Khilani Square in central Baghdad.
The supporters of Muqtada al Sadr had also on Wednesday stormed the parliament building against the candidacy of Mohammed Shia' Sabbar al-Sudani, believed to be supported by Iran and leaving it only after their leader asked them to “return home.”
Sadrists claim that Sudani is a corrupt politician and hamper the voting in the parliament to name him as prime minister, in a country that failed to designate a premier since the elections in October.
In the elections, Sadrists won the majority of the seats in the parliament but not enough to form a government.