Supporters of the influential Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr have stormed the government palace in Baghdad. This was reported by several eyewitnesses on Monday.
The office of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kasimi is located in the building in what is actually a highly secured Green Zone.
Previously, al-Sadr had again announced his withdrawal from politics – as in 2014.
“I had decided not to interfere in political affairs, but now I am announcing my final retirement and the closure of all facilities,” Al-Sadr said on Twitter on Monday. Religious institutions directly associated with him are excluded. “If I die or am killed, I ask for your prayers.”
Less than two hours after the announcement, demonstrators poured into the Green Zone. Some carried photos of al-Sadr. “This is a people’s revolution, not a Sadrist movement,” some shouted.
Others called for the “overthrow of the regime”. The protesters removed barriers while security forces tried to disperse the crowd with water cannons. Videos soon showed a cheering crowd in the government palace rooms. The military imposed a curfew.
Iraq has been in a deep political crisis for months. After the parliamentary elections around ten months ago, this had become more and more acute. Al-Sadr’s movement emerged as the clear victor at the time, but failed to secure the important two-thirds majority required for the presidential election. A new government can only be formed with the support of the head of state. This created a political stalemate.
For the time being, al-Sadr has given up his attempt to reform the political system in Iraq with the help of parliament. After the fall of long-term dictator Saddam Hussein, the USA introduced a system of proportional representation, according to which the president is always a Kurd, the prime minister a Shiite and the speaker of the parliament a Sunni. In addition, al-Sadr wanted to curb the influence of Shiite parties supported by Iran.
With “pressure from the streets” and a storming of parliament, the al-Sadr movement finally wanted to prevent its political opponents around former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who have close ties to Iran, from being able to form a government.
Most recently, the 48-year-old religious leader had called for new elections. His rivals, meanwhile, have put forward their own prime ministerial candidate, which al-Sadr opposes because of his closeness to al-Maliki.
Following the announcement, supporters of al-Sadr spilled onto the streets of central Baghdad and besieged the cabinet building before finally storming the government palace.
Al-Sadr had already announced in 2014 that he would withdraw from politics – two and a half months before the parliamentary elections planned at the time. He also announced that he would close all of his movement’s offices. “In the future I will no longer interfere in political affairs and there will no longer be a parliamentary group or a member of the government who will speak on my behalf,” he said at the time.