Protesters storm Iraqi parliament; Al-Kadhimi urges them to withdraw
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Al Mayadeen reporter has said that protestors against the nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for prime minister stormed the parliament building in the Green Zone, central Baghdad, and al-Kadhimi called on the protesters to immediately withdraw from the area.
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Protesters storm parliament in central Baghdad
Al Mayadeen correspondent reported that protesters against the nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for prime minister stormed the parliament building in the Green Zone in central Baghdad.
Demonstrators storm the Green Zone in #Baghdad #العراق #المنطقة_الخضراء #Iraq pic.twitter.com/x9Eha5QPvE
— Hashtag Elyoum (@Hashtagelyoum) July 27, 2022
Al Mayadeen reporter spoke about demonstrations by supporters of the Sadrist movement in the vicinity of the parliament in the Green Zone in central Baghdad.
Consequently, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, called on the protesters to immediately withdraw from the Green Zone, adhere to peace, and preserve public and private property.
In a statement, al-Kadhimi said today, Wednesday, "The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces calls on his sons, the protesters, to abide by the peace, preserve public and private properties, and follow the instructions of the security forces in charge of protecting them, according to the regulations and laws, and to withdraw from the Green Zone."
Al-Kathimi stressed in the statement that "the security forces will be committed to protecting state institutions and international missions and preventing any disruption to security and order."
Saleh Muhammad Al-Iraqi, who is close to Muqtada al-Sadr, commented on the protests by describing them as "A wonderful spontaneous popular reform message." Addressing the protesters, he added: "If you wish to withdraw, I will respect the decision."
The Iraqi Coordination Framework Secretariat announced on Monday that it was nominating former Human Rights Minister and former Governor of Maysan Province Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for Prime Minister.
"The candidate should have no affiliation with any certain party so that they do not owe it anything. They should be for all of Iraq," the secretariat said.
Who is Mohammed Shia al-Sudani?
Al-Sudani, 52, was previously in the Dawa Party - Iraq Organization, and the State of Law coalition led by former Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki before he resigned from both of them when his name was put forward as a candidate for prime minister in 2019.
Al-Sudani won membership in the Iraqi Parliament three times, the last of which was in 2021. He held ministerial positions, as he was Minister of Labor and Social Affairs between 2014 and 2018, and Minister of Human Rights between 2010 and 2014, according to a biography issued by his office. He also held the position of governor of Maysan, located in southern Iraq.
It is noteworthy that on June 12, Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of Iraq's Sadrist movement, urged the MPs from his bloc -- the biggest in parliament -- to ready resignation papers, in a bid, he said, to break the parliamentary logjam and create space for the establishment of a new government.
"If the survival of the Sadrist bloc is an obstacle to the formation of the government, then all representatives of the bloc are ready to resign from parliament," al-Sadr said on Thursday in a televised statement.
In May, al-Sadr announced that his parliamentary bloc failed to form a national majority government, noting that his bloc has turned into the opposition, and will make way for other blocs to form a government.
