Supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday stormed the parliament building inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone for the second time in a week, an AFP photographer said.
The demonstrators were seen waving Iraqi flags and pictures of al-Sadr inside the legislature, as thousands protested outside amid a deep political crisis that has left Iraq without a government since October elections.
Demonstrators penetrated the perimeter of the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, home to government buildings and foreign embassies, three days after crowds of al-Sadr supporters also penetrated the area before storming parliament.
The Shiite cleric’s bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction, but was still far short of a majority and, 10 months on, deadlock persists over the establishment of a new Iraqi government.
Supporters of al-Sadr oppose the candidacy of Mohammed al-Sudani for prime minister. Al-Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, is the pro-Iran Coordination Framework's pick for premier.
The protests are the latest challenge for oil-rich Iraq, which remains mired in a political and a socioeconomic crisis despite elevated global crude prices.
Crowds of al-Sadr supporters on Wednesday breached the Green Zone despite volleys of tear gas fire from the police.
They occupied the parliament building, singing, dancing and taking selfies before leaving two hours later but only after al-Sadr told them to leave.
Security forces on Saturday shut off roads in the capital leading to the Green Zone with massive blocks of concrete.
"We are here for a revolution," said protester Haydar al-Lami.
"We don't want the corrupt; we don't want those who have been in power to return ... since 2003 ... they have only brought us harm."
By convention, the post of prime minister goes to a leader from Iraq's Shiite majority.
Al-Sadr, a former militia leader, had initially supported the idea of a "majority government".
That would have sent his Shiite adversaries from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework into opposition.
The Coordination Framework draws lawmakers from former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's party and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, the political arm of the Shiite-led former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi.
But last month al-Sadr's 73 lawmakers quit in a move seen as seeking to pressure his rivals to fast-track the establishment of a government.
Sixty-four new lawmakers were sworn in later in June, making the pro-Iran bloc the largest in parliament.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
