ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Top Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday urged Iraqis not to pass up on the “golden opportunity” to demand reform, crush corruption, and expel sectarianism in the country, he said as his loyalists continue a sit-in inside the Iraqi parliament.
“I hope the tragedy of missing the first golden opportunity in 2016 will not be repeated. Yes, this is another opportunity to eliminate the darkness, corruption, exclusivity in power, loyalty to the outside, quotas, and sectarianism that have dwelled in Iraq,” he stated.
Scores of Sadr’s supporters stormed the streets of Baghdad on Saturday morning for the second time in three days, entering the highly-fortified Green Zone, where government offices, the parliament, and foreign embassies are located, and forced their way towards the legislative chamber in protest of the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s candidate for the Iraqi premiership.
The top cleric branded the current protests a “great opportunity to fundamentally change the political system and the constitution,” calling the elections held in Iraq “rigged” and adding that the Iraqi people will shoulder the responsibility of either ensuring the country’s complete independence from foreign influence or letting it slip to a country “moved by the hands of outsiders, east and west.”
“At that time, I will have no choice but to pray and cry for the end of Iraq, which is near,” he continued.
At least 125 protestors, including security forces, were injured on Saturday when supporters of the influential cleric flocked into the parliament building.
Calling on the Iraqi people, Sadr reiterated “do not miss the opportunity, or else there will be a time of regret. Therefore, I call on everyone to support the revolutionaries for reform … not under my banner or my leadership, but under the banner of Iraq and the people’s decision.”
Iraq’s political impasse has reached unprecedented depths, with the country trapped in a suffocating political turmoil and currently experiencing a record period devoid of a cabinet, at over 290 days.
The sit-in announced by protestors is in opposition to the nomination of Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, Iraq’s former minister of labor and social affairs, as a candidate for the country’s prime minister position by the Coordination Framework. Sudani is accused of corruption and having close ties to former PM Nouri al-Maliki.
Several Iraqi officials, including PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih, have called for a national dialogue, and the legislature’s sessions have been suspended until further notice as the country struggles to contain the turmoil.
Sadr was the main winner of the October elections, but withdrew from the parliament last month after failing to reach an agreement with the framework to form a government. However, despite his withdrawal and the Sadrist Movement’s lack of any representatives in the parliament, it remains strong and popular on Iraqi streets. A single tweet from the revered cleric pours thousands of protestors into the streets.
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