Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, this Friday followingnoon, staged three popular demonstrations in separate places in Baghdad and a number of Iraqi provinces for supporters and masses of opposing political parties, to put an end to the political crisis once morest the backdrop of the results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections that took place in October 2021.
Supporters of the coordination framework, the political rival of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, began an open sit-in in front of one of the fortified Green Zone gates in central Baghdad, as stated in a statement by the organizing committee for the demonstrations, while Sadr supporters in Parliament have been holding a sit-in in the Green Zone for two weeks.
And the framework announced the “conclusion” of a demonstration he held on Friday followingnoon in the region “by declaring an open sit-in in order to achieve our just demands”, including “accelerating the formation of a national service government” and “ending the suspension of work” of Parliament, while an AFP correspondent saw demonstrators who began setting up tents. On the sidewalks of the road next to the walls of the green zone.
Since the early hours of the morning, crowds of followers of the Sadrist movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr rushed to the Green Zone from the side of the Legislation Gate, where al-Sadr’s supporters continue their sit-ins and performed Friday prayers. Not to back down and compromise on the implementation of their demands to dissolve the Iraqi parliament and form a government that will pave the way for early parliamentary elections.
Others of al-Sadr’s supporters came out in similar gatherings in the governorates of Babil, Basra, Maysan, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, Wasit and Muthanna carrying Iraqi flags, raising the slogan of dissolving the Iraqi parliament and holding early parliamentary elections.
At the southern gate of the Green Zone, large crowds covered the streets of the Jadriya neighborhood in the Karrada district, following the forces of the Shiite coordination framework from Baghdad and a number of other provinces, carrying the flags of Iraq and the Popular Mobilization, and pictures of the Shiite Supreme Leader Ali al-Sistani and others of the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Faiq Zaidan, and chanted slogans protecting the state and its institutions. Adhering to the demands of the forces of the Shiite coordination framework to nominate Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani as the next Iraqi prime minister, rejecting calls to dissolve parliament, not violating the judicial and constitutional institutions, respecting the prestige of the state and not infringing on it.
The demonstration areas and the areas surrounding the government’s Green Zone witnessed strict security measures and a heavy deployment of the army, police, security services, the Anti-Terrorism Service, anti-riot forces and intelligence services.
Some entrances to the green zone are closed
Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath correspondent reported that the Iraqi security services began closing some entrances to the Green Zone in anticipation. for upcoming events today.
Al-Sadr’s representative in the Green Zone demonstrations said that the demonstrators would not give up their demands at all.
The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called on the demonstrators of the coordination framework in Iraq to be peaceful. Al-Sadr said in a tweet on “Twitter” that the demonstrations of the coordination framework should be a support for reform, not a victory for the prestige of the state and governments. He added that hands are extended to the audience of the coordination framework without its leaders.
Before that, the Sadrist movement called on its supporters to prepare for mass gatherings in the provinces, and called on them to fill out legal forms to submit to the judiciary in order to dissolve Parliament.
As before A similar call from the coordination framework to demonstrate at the walls of the region Presidential Council in Baghdad to “support constitutional rights, protect state institutions, and expedite the formation of the new Iraqi government.”
This comes as supporters of the Sadrist movement continue their sit-in in front of the parliament building for the second week in a row until their demands are fulfilled, represented in dissolving parliament and holding early elections, following al-Sadr called on his supporters to hold an open sit-in in Baghdad and a number of provinces.
The Baghdad Operations Command began closing the suspension bridge from the Karrada area towards the Green Zone in preparation for the demonstrations called for by the pro-Iran coordination framework.
For his part, a leader in the coordination framework in Iraq said that the framework does not seek to clash with the supporters of the Sadrist movement today on the walls of the Green Zone.
And the “Baghdad Today” news website quoted the leader, Ali Al-Fatlawi, as saying that the goal of the demonstrations called for by the coordination framework is “to support legitimacy, the constitution and the law, and to stand once morest the disruption of institutions.”
In turn, the spokesman for the Iraqi government and Minister of Culture, Hassan Nazim, said that the government renews its call to the political forces for dialogue, stressing that the Iraqi government is a service government far from politics and stands at the same distance from all political forces.
