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Tense calm in Baghdad after Moqtada al-Sadr issues appeal
In a televised speech broadcasted on local media outlets, influential Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered Tuesday (August 30) protesters to empty streets and to end violence and killing innocent people.
The violence erupted after Mr Sadr said he was withdrawing from political life.
His announcement followed months of deadlock over the formation of a new government. Observers said Mr Sadr's move might be tactical, having declared his political retirement more than once before.
On Monday (August 29), at least 23 of his followers were killed in clashes with security forces and militias aligned with Iran.
When Mr Sadr tweeted his retirement from politics, protesters burst into government buildings inside the so-called Green Zone, a heavily fortified area in central Baghdad.
Shots were fired by supporters of a rival Shia bloc, witnesses said, unleashing some of the worst violence in Baghdad for years. Automatic gun- and rocket-fire rang out, with security forces trying to quell the fighting.
المؤتمر الصحفي لسماحة القائد السيد مقتدى الصدر (أعزه الله)المؤتمر الصحفي لسماحة القائد السيد مقتدى الصدر (أعزه الله)
Posted by قناة المنهج الفضائية on Tuesday, August 30, 2022
On Tuesday morning (August 30), Mr Sadr ordered his supporters to withdraw and apologised to the Iraqi people for the bloodshed.
"This revolution, as long as it is marred by violence, is not a revolution," he said in a televised address.
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Moments later, hundreds of his supporters began leaving the Green Zone and a nationwide curfew was lifted by the military.
Mr Sadr's bloc won the most seats in elections last October but he would not agree to a coalition with the second largest bloc, comprised mainly of rival, Iran-backed Shia parties.
Once an Iranian ally, Mr Sadr has repositioned himself as a nationalist wanting to end US and Iranian influence over Iraq's internal affairs.
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Monday's violence came after weeks of soaring tensions, during which his supporters stormed parliament twice.
Moqtada al-Sadr, 48, has millions of followers and is seen by many as a figurehead against endemic corruption, poverty and high unemployment which plagues ordinary Iraqis.
levantnews-BBC
