Al-Sadr urges supporters to withdraw as clashes leave 30 dead

Baghdad [Iraq], August 30 (ANI): Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued an appeal for peace after clashes between his supporters and security forces left 30 people dead and hundreds injured.
Al-Sadr asked his supporters to withdraw entirely from the green zone, the site of the deadly clashes, according to Al Jazeera.
After Muqtada al-Sadr announced he was quitting politics on Monday, thousands of his followers stormed Iraq’s presidential palace and clashed with the security forces following which Military reinforcements were sent to the presidential palace as the followers of Al Sadr tore down cement barriers outside the government building in support of the cleric.
An immediate curfew was put in place right after as Palace security was unable to control the mass of demonstrators.
Several leaders condemned the clashes in Iraq and expressed concerns over the aggravating situation.
Veteran Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani has also called for restraint and urged the parties “not to resort to the language of weapons and violence in resolving conflicts”
Barzani, the former president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and the head of the governing Kurdistan Democratic Party, also called on all sides to “think about solutions that bring good to the Iraqi people and take into consideration the general interest of the people and the country”.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges all “relevant actors” to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and avoid any violence.
Turkey has also urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Baghdad and called for “inclusive dialogue” to resolve the ongoing crisis.
Earlier in July, numerous Iraqi demonstrators, mostly supporters of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the heavily fortified parliament building in Baghdad to protest against the nomination for prime minister by rival Iran-backed parties. The protesters were opposing the candidacy of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for the post of Prime Minister, as they believe him to be too close to Iran.
Notably, Al-Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in Iraq’s October 2021 election, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament but, ever since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled, and Al-Sadr stepped down from the political process. A deadlock persists over the establishment of a new government.
In 2016 too Al-Sadr’s supporters stormed the parliament in a similar fashion. They staged a sit-in and issued demands for political reform after then-Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi sought to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats in an anti-corruption drive.
Mass protests erupted in 2019 amid public anger over corruption and unemployment and this current protest poses a challenge for the oil-rich country. (ANI)