Iraqi cleric Sadr’s spokesman asks protesters to evacuate parliament
Baghdad, Aug 2 (EFE).- A spokesman for Iraq’s influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday called on protesters currently staging a sit-in protest in parliament in Baghdad to leave within 72 hours.
In a statement, Saleh Mohamed al-Iraqi asked the pro-Sadr demonstrators to continue their sit-in around the building in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone after evacuating, amid a months-long political impasse.
“It is very important to continue the sit-in to achieve our demands,” al-Iraqi said, adding a protesters’ committee that will be in charge of the next protests is being formed.
Hundreds of pro-Sadr loyalists broke into the parliament twice last week and have been camping out inside the building since Saturday in protest against the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for the prime minister post.
Among the protesters’ demands are dissolving the parliament, forming a new government, and ending corruption in Iraq.
Al-Iraqi’s instructions came after thousands of the Coordination Framework supporters took to Baghdad’s streets to protest the parliament sit-in on Monday.
In June, al-Sadr ordered his 73 lawmakers to quit after the parliament failed to elect a new president in an election boycotted by the Coordination Framework.
The withdrawal allowed the Coordination Framework to gain a parliamentary majority, although it was not until last week that it announced its candidate for prime minister.
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