Iraq
Iraqi protestors during a rally outside Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone on August 12, 2022. Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Photos: AFP. Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Sadrist Movement on Saturday called for Iraqi protestors to flock from different provinces to the capital of Baghdad in a massive show of protest titled the "million" people demonstration as political unrest between Iraq's rival forces reaches its peak.
"I count on you and I feel courageous not to be let down by you ... through a united (peaceful) (million) demonstration from all Iraq's provinces, regions, villages, and neighborhoods, and even from all its alleys and homes to go to the beloved capital, Baghdad, and to Tahrir Square, and then to your protesting brothers to support reform for the love of Iraq," read a tweet from Salih Mohammed al-Iraqi, a figure close to leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
A day after calling for million-man demonstrations, the Sadrist Movement said the protests will be held on Saturday 5:00 pm. Protestors will gather in Baghdad's Tahrir Square.
The political turmoil in Iraq has reached staggering depths, with constant protests held in Baghdad since late July by Sadr supporters and rivals of the pro-Iran Coordination Framework.
The two sides maintain polarizing views regarding Iraq's future, with the former supporting the dissolution of parliament and holding snap elections while the latter refusing the dissolution of the legislature without a return to parliament sessions, which are currently obstructed due to Sadrist sit-ins in the capital's Green Zone in the vicinity of the parliament.
The Sadrist figure urged for a "million march carrying the flags of Iraq and the banners of reform and liberation ... that shake the thrones of the miserable" in Baghdad to send a message that "Iraq is with reform and there is no place for corruption and the corrupt," while warning that Iraq is on the cusp of "another dictator."
Meanwhile, a representative of Sadr said on Saturday said that demonstrations will continue until reform is achieved and corruption is ousted from Iraq.
"We will continue until the demands are achieved and the faces of the corrupt are removed," Hazem al-Araji, the representative of the Sadrist Movement leader told Rudaw on Saturday night.
Supporters of Sadr have held a sit-in in the heavily fortified Green Zone since late July demanding the dissolution of parliament, constitutional reform, and early elections. Their demands are opposed by Coordination Framework loyalists, who have staged counter-protests in Baghdad against the demands of the Sadrist Movement.
The Sadrist figure's statement further warned that Iraq has become an "easy prey to corruption, injustice, militias, dependency, and the whims of corrupt parties," and called on all of Iraq's components to rise against such injustice.
Large rallies were held by supporters of Sadr and rivals Coordination Framework on Friday, and Sadrist protestors reiterated their demands of holding snap elections and the dissolution of the parliament. The Coordination Framework's supporters rejected their rivals' demands and instead called for reform.
On Wednesday, Sadr called on Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council to dissolve the parliament by the "end of next week" and task the president with setting early elections, saying that the judiciary retains the authority to dissolve the parliament without the need of a parliamentary session to be held.
Sadr's statement contradicts that of major rival and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said on Monday that there will be no dissolution of parliament or early elections should the parliament not return to holding sessions and call to do so itself.
Iraq held early elections in October 2021, but has failed to form a government and has been grasped with a suffocating political deadlock, with the country currently experiencing a record nearly ten months without a permanent cabinet.
Updated at 8:23 pm on August 14 with the day of the million-man protests
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