Turkey- Al Sadr calls for sit in outside Baghdad's Green Zone

3/12/2016 6:48:19 PM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) >Prominent Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called on supporters to stage a sit-in outside Baghdad’s Green Zone -- an apparent reversal of earlier pledges to keep his followers away from the international zone.

"Every Iraqi who is loyal to the country must rise up and begin a new phase of peaceful protest… by holding a sit-in in front of the gates of the Green Zone until the end of the prescribed period by which I mean the 45 days" al-Sadr declared in a statement.

On Feb. 12 al-Sadr gave the government of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi 45 days to draw up a non-sectarian-based government of technocrats mandated with uprooting official corruption and streamlining state bureaucracy.

Last week he warned that his followers would storm Baghdad’s Green Zone -- which houses government institutions and foreign embassies -- if the deadline passed without the demands being met.

On Friday tens of thousands of al-Sadr's followers demonstrated in Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces -- for the third week in a row -- to reiterate their demands.

Abdul Aziz al-Zalmi a member of Iraq’s Al-Ahrar bloc a Sadrist Shia political coalition attributed al-Sadr's calls for a sit-in outside the Green Zone to "the lack of seriousness on the part of the government in carrying out the promised reforms".

"Now" al-Zalmi told Anadolu Agency "the government must confront the street which demands a new government of non-partisan technocrats."

Last summer Iraq’s parliament approved a comprehensive raft of reforms proposed by al-Abadi. The reforms are intended to meet longstanding popular demands to eliminate government corruption and streamline state bureaucracy.

Al-Sadr's bloc in parliament holds 34 seats in the 328-seat assembly and three ministerial portfolios in Iraq’s current government.

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.