Sadrist Movement, Coordination Framework Protest on Different Bridges in Baghdad

Sadr supporters on their way to the protest area in the Green Zone (AFP)
Sadr supporters on their way to the protest area in the Green Zone (AFP)
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Sadrist Movement, Coordination Framework Protest on Different Bridges in Baghdad

Sadr supporters on their way to the protest area in the Green Zone (AFP)
Sadr supporters on their way to the protest area in the Green Zone (AFP)

The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, rejected the call for dialogue, describing it as "useless" as long as the Iraqi people have said their say in the elections.

In a televised speech, Sadr noted that "Iraqi blood is dear," stressing "enough blood... the responsibility for its shedding is borne on everyone."

Sadr indicated that he has no interest in dialogue with his rivals, stressing, "Don't believe the rumors that I don't want dialogue."

He explained that he had already tried and experienced a dialogue with them, which only brought ruin and corruption.

Sadr demanded dissolving the parliament and called for early elections, asking his supporters to continue their protests until meeting their demands.

The cleric called for early elections and unspecified constitutional amendments.

In recent leaks, Sadr accused the former prime minister and head of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, without naming him, of trying to kill him.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered authorities to open the bridge in central Baghdad, usually dedicated to protests of the Shiite Coordination Framework Forces.

Sadr supporters gathered near the Ministry of Defense entrance on the Jumhuriya Bridge to enter and exit the Green Zone.

The Coordination Framework became the largest parliamentary bloc after the withdrawal of the Sadrist representatives and tried to use that for its advantage and form a government chaired by former minister and current lawmaker Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Officials of the Coordination Framework tried to move on to the next step of electing a president, but Sadr asked his supporters twice to march in protests, storm the Green Zone, and enter the Iraqi parliament.

The first protest lasted for hours, and Sadr ordered his supporters to withdraw, while the second sit-in came after the Framework forces requested an entire parliamentary session to elect the president ahead of assigning the prime minister.

The Framework was faced with two issues in forming the government. The first is the position of the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which announced that they would not attend the session unless their demands were met.

The second obstacle was the Sadrist movement's demonstrations and storming into the parliament, which ended any chance of holding a session to elect a new president.

Meanwhile, several politicians began calling for a parliamentary session in another location, regardless of the Sadrist escalation, but Speaker Mohammad al-Halbousi suspended the legislature until further notice.

The Coordination Framework forces wanted to show their strong support and called for a protest on the other side of the area, near the suspended bridge.

Meanwhile, recent leaks indicated that the Sadrist movement and Framework forces are engaged in secret discussions, which was neither confirmed nor denied by either party.

The reports claim that the talks between the two parties are led by Fatah leader Hadi al-Amiri. This confirms that Maliki, who leads the largest bloc within the Framework, has been excluded from the negotiations, given his tense relationship with Sadr.

However, other information claims that the two Shiite parties are holding talks in Tehran with Iranian mediation.

Sadr formed a committee of senior leaders to manage the sit-in in the parliament's vicinity.

Furthermore, experts are discussing the constitutionality of the possible return of Sadr's 73 lawmakers who withdrew from parliament as part of the solution.



Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a "live-streamed genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.

In its annual report, Amnesty charged that Israel had acted with "specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus committing genocide".

Israel has rejected accusations of "genocide" from Amnesty, other rights groups and some states in its war in Gaza.

The conflict erupted after the Palestinian group Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attacks inside Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel in response launched a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and a ground operation that according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory has left at least 52,243 dead.

"Since 7 October 2023, when Hamas perpetrated horrific crimes against Israeli citizens and others and captured more than 250 hostages, the world has been made audience to a live-streamed genocide," Amnesty's secretary general Agnes Callamard said in the introduction to the report.

"States watched on as if powerless, as Israel killed thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire multigenerational families, destroying homes, livelihoods, hospitals and schools," she added.

'Extreme levels of suffering'

Gaza's civil defense agency said early Tuesday that four people were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on displaced persons' tents near the Al-Iqleem area in Southern Gaza.

The agency earlier warned fuel shortages meant it had been forced to suspend eight out of 12 emergency vehicles in Southern Gaza, including ambulances.

The lack of fuel "threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens and displaced persons in shelter centers," it said in a statement.

Amnesty's report said the Israeli campaign had left most of the Palestinians of Gaza "displaced, homeless, hungry, at risk of life-threatening diseases and unable to access medical care, power or clean water".

Amnesty said that throughout 2024 it had "documented multiple war crimes by Israel, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks".

It said Israel's actions forcibly displaced 1.9 million Palestinians, around 90 percent of Gaza's population, and "deliberately engineered an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe".

Even as protesters hit the streets in Western capitals, "the world's governments individually and multilaterally failed repeatedly to take meaningful action to end the atrocities and were slow even in calling for a ceasefire".

Meanwhile, Amnesty also sounded alarm over Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and repeated an accusation that Israel was employing a system of "apartheid".

"Israel's system of apartheid became increasingly violent in the occupied West Bank, marked by a sharp increase in unlawful killings and state-backed attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians," it said.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa region, denounced "the extreme levels of suffering that Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to endure on a daily basis over the past year" as well as "the world's complete inability or lack of political will to put a stop to it".