This leaves Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi without the ability to pass legislation and unable to implement the government reforms that al-Sadr and his supporters say the protests are demanding.
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At least two protestors were killed and several others were injured while attempting to force their way into Baghdad’s Green Zone on Friday, prompting authorities to declare a curfew in the area.
On Friday, Sadr’s followers, in the afternoon, crossed security barriers on Jamhouriyah Bridge and marched to a main gate of the Green Zone, while the security forces guarding the government zone opened fire in the air and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Iraqi security forces had used live ammunition, rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas on Friday to dislodge the demonstrators from the central district, which houses government buildings and many foreign embassies.
Sadr supporters posted pictures of the prime minister’s office on social media, including from the Cabinet meeting room, but the protesters eventually withdrew. Three people, including an unnamed journalist, were believed killed and more than 50 were wounded.
It was the second time this month that protesters managed to break into the city’s government area.
Ambulances became caught in the mass of people packing the street, which was divided by coils of barbed wire running down the median that also impeded movement.
Earlier in the day, crowds of mostly young men gathered outside the Green Zone walls, with their numbers swelling into the thousands. Al-Abadi later replaced the head of the compound security.
“All he did was protest with the people calling on the government to solve our corruption issues”.
But parliament has failed to even reconvene since the incident.
Abadi has condemned the incursions and warned against chaos and strife as government forces seek to keep up momentum in their fight to drive the jihadists out of large swathes of northern and western Iraq that they seized in 2014.
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The vote has also been undermined by the fragile security situation in Baghdad.
