IRAQ PARLIAMENT IS OCCUPIED BY HUNDREDS OF AL-SADR SUPPORTERS FOR A SECOND DAY

Sun 31 July 2022:

The months-long political standoff is getting worse as Muqtada al-Sadr’s supporters have set up tents and are getting ready for a prolonged sit-in at the Iraqi parliament.

After the October elections failed to result in the formation of a government, on Saturday supporters of the firebrand al-Sadr forced their way into the legislative chamber for the second time in days.

🇮🇶Hundreds of protesters camp at Iraq parliament for a second day.

Supporters of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr erect tents and prepare for a long sit-in to protest against efforts by his rivals to form a government.#iraqprotests #Iraqi #العراق pic.twitter.com/RHd8DzfdCg

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) July 31, 2022

“The demonstrators announce a sit-in until further notice,” al-Sadr’s movement said in a brief statement to journalists carried by state news agency INA.

Nearly 10 months after October elections, Iraq is still without a new government despite intense negotiations between factions.

Government formation in the oil-rich country has involved complex negotiations since the 2003 invasion led by the United States toppled Saddam Hussein.

Supporters of al-Sadr, who once led a militia against the US and Iraqi government forces, oppose a rival, pro-Iran Shia bloc’s pick for prime minister – Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

he post conventionally goes to a figure from Iraq’s Shia majority.

“We don’t want Mr al-Sudani,” said one protester, Sattar al-Aliawi, a 47-year-old civil servant.

He told AFP news agency he was protesting against “a corrupt and incapable government” and would “sleep here” in the gardens of parliament.

“The people totally refuse the parties that have governed the country for 18 years,” he said.

On Sunday morning, the demonstrators marked the Muslim month of Muharram with religious chants and collective meals.

“We were hoping for the best but we got the worst. The politicians currently in parliament have brought us nothing,” Abdelwahab al-Jaafari, 45, told AFP.

Volunteers distributed soup, hard-boiled eggs, bread and water to the protesters.

Some spent the night inside the parliament with blankets spread out on the marble floors. Others took to the gardens, on plastic mats under palm trees.

Al-Sadr’s bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction, but was still far short of a majority, causing the longest political vacuum in the country since 2003.

In June, al-Sadr’s 73 legislators quit their seats in a move seen as an attempt to pressure his rivals into fast-tracking the formation of a government.

That led to a pro-Iran bloc, the Coordination Framework, becoming the largest in parliament, but still there was no agreement on naming a new prime minister, president or cabinet.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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