BAGHDAD — Thousands of Iraqis took to the
streets of
Baghdad Monday in counter-protests as rival supporters of Shiite
Muslim cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr extended their occupation of parliament into a
third day.
اضافة اعلان
Almost 10 months after Iraqis went to the polls, a
political standoff pits two key factions of the Shiite political scene, between
the populist
Sadr with a devoted following of millions, and the powerful
pro-Iran Coordination Framework.
“The people will not allow a coup,” read placards
held by supporters of the
Coordination Framework as they gathered on a main
street leading to the Green Zone, the home of parliament, which Sadr’s
supporters have been occupying since Saturday.
“It is the parliament of the people, of all Iraqis,
not the parliament of a select group”, said 25-year-old protester Ahmed Ali,
condemning “the storming” of government institutions.
Police fired water cannons at crowds in a bid to
prevent them from crossing a bridge leading to the Green Zone, inside which
thousands of Sadr supporters maintained their protests, waving flags and
carrying placards of their leader.
Sadr’s supporters on Saturday breached the normally
high-security Green Zone — also home to government buildings and embassies — in
protest at a prime ministerial nomination by the Coordination Framework.
‘Defend the state’
Followers of the
Coordination Framework urged supporters not to enter the Green Zone, saying
their objective was to “defend the state and its legitimacy”.
After some two hours, the counter-demonstration
announced they were dispersing.
“They wanted to show their political strength, to
show that they too have a base that can take over the Iraqi street,” said
political scientist Ihsan Al-Shammari, from the University of Baghdad.
In multi-confessional and multiethnic Iraq,
government formation has involved complex negotiations since a 2003 US-led
invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
In this case, the protracted political deadlock has
left the country without a government, a new prime minister or a new president.
Sadr’s massive mobilization of supporters in recent
weeks has underscored the political clout of the firebrand preacher.
The Coordination Framework alliance includes
lawmakers from the party of Sadr’s longtime foe, ex-prime minister
Nuri Al-Maliki.
It also represents the powerful pro-Iran former
paramilitary alliance Hashed Al-Shaabi, now integrated into the regular forces.
Hadi Al-Ameri, who heads a faction of the Hashed,
repeated a call Monday for “constructive dialogue” and warned against “an
atmosphere of media escalation, sparked by statements and counter-statements
calling for mass mobilizations that could get out of control and lead to
violence”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani
said Tehran respects “the choice of the Iraqi people”, and that “dialogue is
the best way to solve the internal problems of Iraq”.
‘Government of the corrupt’
Sadr’s 73 lawmakers had made up the biggest group of
parliament’s 329 lawmakers, but they were unable to cobble together a
government.
In June they quit, a move that made their pro-Iran rivals the largest
bloc in the legislature.
But the Sadrist camp was outraged by the Coordination Framework’s recent
nomination of former minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani for premier, prompting
them to occupy parliament.
On Sunday, the mercurial Sadr called on “everyone ... to support the
reformist revolutionaries”.
The Coordination Framework described the appeal as “a call for a coup
against the people, the state and its institutions”.
Followers of Sadr also held rallies in the southern cities of Basra, Kut,
and Nassiriya on Monday.
“We want to get rid of the government of the corrupt,” said protester
Zaher Al-Atabi. “From 2003 until now, those who have run the country have done
nothing to develop public services, no health system, no education.”
But
while the cleric’s supporters see him as cracking down on graft, Sadrist
supporters hold posts at the highest levels of government ministries — and
opponents accuse them of being just as corrupt as Iraq’s other political
forces.
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