Baghdad in State of Emergency After Protesters Storm Parliament
Supporters
of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr storm parliament in Baghdad’s Green
Zone, Saturday, April 30, 2016. Dozens of protesters climbed over the
blast walls and could be seen storming the Parliament building, carrying
Iraqi flags and chanting against the government. (AP Photo/Khalid
Mohammed)
Author: Orville Davis ; Last update: 15 May , 2016 16:50:44
Followers of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr leave the Green
Zone in Baghdad, May 1 after issuing a list of demands for government
reform.
Sadr wants to see Abadi’s proposed technocrat government approved,
ending a quota system that its opponents say has encouraged corruption.
The MSM has portrayed this as a huge blow to the Iraqi government,
putting in doubt its prospects for surviving and putting in jeopardy the
war against ISIS in Iraq.
Unverified online photographs showed a large plume of smoke rising
above the buildings as well as burnt out cars and bodies on the ground
at the site of one of the blasts, including several children.
The bombing had been part of a series of planned assaults against
Shiites, it said. Protesters attacked at least one MP as well as cars
they believed belonged to lawmakers, and broke into offices in
parliament.
April 30, coalition military forces conducted 26 strikes against
the terrorist group in coordination with the Iraqi government, the USA
military said. Al-Sadr earlier accused lawmakers of sectarianism in
their selection of ministers and ordered his bloc to withdraw from the
council session where members were preparing to finish voting on a new
Cabinet.
The protesters left the building on Sunday. The statement said that
the move came as hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims gather at the
mausoleum of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Baghdad’s northern district of
Kadhmiyah to commemorate the death of the seventh of the most revered 12
Shiite Imams.
Therefore, according to the leaders, the power that protects the
Green Zone is either weak, proven from the first challenge it faced, or
is complicit with the protesters and in both cases the PM is the first
to take responsibility. “We are in a debate inside the party for the
first time (on) the demand for Abadi to resign”, the official said.
Jumaa, who identified herself as a secularist, said she wanted the
current government dissolved and replaced by a small interim
administration whose job would be to amend the constitution and to
prepare for an early national election. An Iraqi security command said a
suicide bomber detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle, while other
officials said it was a auto bomb.
“The answer is no”, said Kirk Sowell, an analyst based in Amman,
Jordan, and editor of the Inside Iraq Politics newsletter. At least 19
people were killed and 48 wounded. Sixteen Shiite pilgrims were killed
and 43 others wounded on Monday in a suicide auto bomb explosion in the
southern Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua. “But he
is being made less relevant by the day”, Sowell said.
