Sadr’s Followers Set Up for Long Sit-in at Iraq Parliament

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest inside the parliament building in Baghdad on July 30, 2022. Thaier Al-Sudani, Reuters
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest inside the parliament building in Baghdad on July 30, 2022. Thaier Al-Sudani, Reuters
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Sadr’s Followers Set Up for Long Sit-in at Iraq Parliament

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest inside the parliament building in Baghdad on July 30, 2022. Thaier Al-Sudani, Reuters
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest inside the parliament building in Baghdad on July 30, 2022. Thaier Al-Sudani, Reuters

With mattresses strewn about, food trucked in and protesters playacting as lawmakers, hundreds of followers of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were camped out Sunday inside the Iraqi parliament after toppling security walls around the building and storming in the previous day.

The protesters pledged to hold an open-ended sit-in to derail efforts by their rivals from Iran-backed political groups to form the country's next government. Their demands are lofty: early elections, constitutional amendments and the ouster of Sadr's opponents.

The developments have catapulted Iraq's politics to center stage, plunging the country deeper into a political crisis as a power struggle unfolds between the two major Shiite groups.

Sadr has not visited the scene but egged his loyalists on, tweeting on Sunday that the sit-in was “a great opportunity to radically challenge the political system, the constitution, and the elections.” He called on all Iraqis to join the “revolution," an indication the sit-in will likely become a drawn-out event.

On Sunday, the sit-in appeared more of a joyous celebration than a political protest — Sadr's followers were dancing, praying and chanting slogans inside the parliament, in praise of their leader. In between, they took naps on mattresses lining the grand halls.

It was a scene starkly different from the one on Saturday, when protesters used ropes and chains to topple concrete walls around the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, then flooded into the assembly building. It was the second such breach last week, but this time they did not disperse peacefully.

Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at first, to try to repel the demonstrators. The Ministry of Health said about 125 people were injured in the violence — 100 protesters and 25 members of the security forces. Within a few hours, the police backed off, leaving the parliament to the protesters.

The takeover of the parliament showed Sadr was using his large grassroots following as a pressure tactic against his rivals in the Coordination Framework — an alliance of Shiite parties backed by Iran and led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — after his party was not able to form a government despite having won the largest number of seats in the federal elections held last October.

Neither side appears willing to concede and Sadr seems intent on derailing government formation efforts by the Iran-backed groups.

But there were red-lines — the road to the judicial council building nearby was closed, with heavy security presence around it. Breaching the building would amount to a coup, and Sadr had ordered his followers to steer clear of it.

The protesters appeared prepared for the long-haul — or at least an extended sit-in.

Tuk-tuks, a mainstay of transportation in the impoverished Baghdad suburb of Sadr City from where the cleric derives much of his following, shuttled demonstrators to and from the parliament for a fee of 1,000 Iraqi dinars, or 60 cents.

Coolers were set up and water bottles were passed around. A child handed out sweets while teenagers sold juice from sacks. A few women — a minority in the male-dominated demonstration — swept the floors.

Outside, garbage from food packages and other trash littered the street leading up to the parliament gate while trucks brought in giant cauldrons of steaming rice and beans to feed the protesters. Signs nearby read: “Revolution Restaurant”

Sadr’s portraits hung everywhere. Many protesters smoked, tossing cigarette butts on the floor, and cigarette smoke filled the assembly.

A young man, Samir Aziz Abbas sold popsicles. “I am here to make a living,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

One protester, Haidar Jameel assumed the seat of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi — among the most powerful political figures in Iraq — and from it, looked on at his rowdy fellow demonstrators. After Sadr's followers took over the parliament, Halbousi suspended future sessions until further notice.

“We will not back down until our demands are met,” Jameel declared.

Sadr's support base consists largely of impoverished Iraqis living in the slums of Baghdad, attracted by calls against corruption. But Sadr is also an establishment figure, with many civil servants appointed by his party throughout the state apparatus.

By choosing to stage his protest ahead of the Shiite Islam's holy day of Ashura, Sadr capitalized on a moment when religious fervor runs high — protesters performed religious rituals inside the parliament. At midday, an imam led a prayer in the central lobby.

Iraqis typically march in the thousands to commemorate the day in the city of Karbala and emotions run high in the days leading up to it.

Sadr's messaging to his followers is imbued with references to the pilgrimage, said Marsin Alshamary, a post–doctoral fellow at the Brookings Institution.

For the protesters, most of them young men, the sit-in offers a chance to come close to the seat of power in a system that has long neglected them. Before, they would not have been able to enter the heavily fortified zone without permission.

When Meethak Muhi took his turn to sit in the seat of the deputy speaker of parliament, he tied himself to the chair with a scarf.

“The parliament, it's finished,” he shouted.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.