Iraqi officials declared a state of emergency in Baghdad Saturday after thousands of protesters climbed over the blast walls of the capital’s fortified worldwide government center and broke into parliament. After the suicide bombing, the US embassy in Iraq was locked down, with foreign diplomats – who live and work in the heavily secured “Green Zone” – from other countries making similar moves, locking down their embassy compounds.
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As of Saturday afternoon there were still politicians in the building, hiding from hundreds of protesters who were occupying the building.
Mr Sadr wants Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to commit to a plan to replace ministers with non-partisan technocrats.
BAGHDAD: Hundreds of supporters of Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed parliament inside Baghdad’s Green Zone on Saturday and camped out nearby after Sadr denounced politicians’ failure to reform a political quota system blamed for rampant corruption.
The protesters were waving Iraqi flags and were chanting “peaceful, peaceful”, while others were standing on the outer wall of the Green Zone.
They then headed to parliament, where some rampaged through the building and broke into offices, while others shouted “peacefully, peacefully” and tried to contain the destruction, an Agence France-Presse journalist said.
Cellphone video uploaded to social media showed dozens of young men running through the halls of parliament, chanting slogans in support of al-Sadr and calling for the government to disband.
The Green Zone unrest kicked off minutes after Muqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shia leader, ended a news conference in the holy city of Najaf during which he condemned the political deadlock.
For many, merely being inside the Green Zone was a sign of protest.
Saturday’s auto bombing, which occurred in the city’s Nahrawan area, killed at least 23 people and wounded up to 38 others, security and medical officials said.
All entrances of Baghdad were shut “as a precautionary measure to maintain the capital’s security”, another security official said.
Concrete barriers and checkpoints have blocked bridges and roads leading to the government district, symbolising the isolation of Iraq’s leadership from its people.
Parliament failed to reach quorum on Saturday afternoon to complete voting on a cabinet reshuffle first urged by Abadi in February.
Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for the counterterrorism forces, said that opposition acts are still being seen as “a demonstration”.
“This is an end to the political system put in place after 2003”, said Shwan al-Dawoodi, a Kurdish lawmaker.
Meanwhile, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami), which has its headquarters in the Green Zone, has expressed its concern on the situation.
The events, some analysts said, point to the critical flaw in the Obama administration’s approach to the battle against the Islamic State group that has prioritized defeating the militant group over the much tougher task of helping al-Abadi fix Iraq’s corrupt and largely ineffective government.
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Some political blocs and politicians apparently have been resisting the reforms because there is a lack of trust among the political parties who see that such reforms, or part of them, are marginalizing their factions from the political scene which originally was built on power-sharing agreements. Unable to get near the pilgrims, the suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb among crowds at a busy sheep market instead, an official said.
