ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A group of prominent Shiite clerics have met in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf to persuade the radical militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr against holding a planned million man demonstration in the capital Baghdad on Friday.
According to Rudaw reporter in Baghdad, Barham Hassan, Sadr attended the meeting with the clerical group.
Rudaw has learned that the clerics asked Sadr to call off any planned demonstrations and send a message to his followers and Iraqi people in general telling them to support the government.
The clerics reportedly failed to dissuade Sadr and he is said to have arrived in Baghdad just two days before his planned demonstrations.
The clerics have also asked disputing Shiite parties to put aside their differences and support the government.
Thousands of supporters of Sadr broke the concrete barriers of Baghdad’s Green Zone in April and stormed the parliament building following a Friday speech by the radical cleric at the Tahrir square.
The office of Prime Minister Haider Abadi asked Iraqis to stay united and “appreciate the victories of the Iraqi forces that have recently been achieved” in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Abadi called on “the Iraqi people and political groups to unite their efforts to preserve the military success in Mosul and Fallujah,”
“The priority should be defeating ISIS,” read a statement from the premier.
Abadi has been under attack from MPs and militia groups for failing security in the capital Baghdad after a bomb explosion in Karrada killed 292 people earlier this month.
In his message the Iraqi prime minister said that attacks such as the one in Karrada were attempts by ISIS “to back stab and shock the people through its assistants and such acts to delay the Mosul operation.”
Abadi has promised fundamental reforms since his appointment as prime minister two years ago, including the sacking of several prominent security officials, but Sadr and his group have blamed him for a slow implementation of reforms.
The radical cleric appears to be filling in for security forces in parts of the country since the Karrada bombing.
On Tuesday he ordered the deployment of 600 militiamen to the town of Balad north of Baghdad to protect the Shiite shrine of Sayed Mohammad al-Hadi.
The same day he visited the site of the Karrada bombing wearing military uniform.
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