Iraqi Protesters Storm Parliament Building For Second Time in 72 Hours

The unrest comes just days after supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burst into the heavily fortified Green Zone in the center of the Iraqi capital, where they danced, sang, posed for selfies, and dispersed. The protests began amid Iraq's ongoing political crisis - which has left it without an elected government following elections last year.

Hundreds of protesters descended on Iraq's parliament building on Saturday, putting on a repeat performance of Wednesday's unrest.

Again, the Sadrists broke in the parliament building in #Baghdad.#Iraq pic.twitter.com/3f4sEvpeWF

— خالد اسكيف (@khalediskef) July 30, 2022

Hundreds of protesters entered the House of Representatives.
In the past 72 hours, this is the second time that the parliament has been captured by protesters against Iran's interference in Iraq.#Baghdad #Iraq pic.twitter.com/zhe9YkIhfZ

— Suhad Talabany (@TalabanySuhad) July 30, 2022

Demonstrators waved Iraqi flags, carried portraits of al-Sadr, chanted "All the people are with you Sayyed Muqtada," and sat down in the legislative chamber, where no lawmakers were present.

Thousands of protesters also gathered outside the parliament building, with security forces' use of tear gas, water cannons, and sound grenades failing to disperse them. Protesters also disassembled large concrete barriers surrounding the heavily-fortified area.

🔴#BREAKING
Protesters in Baghdad took down concrete barricades and moving towards the Green Zone, chanting against the foreign influence on Iraqi politics and calling for dissolution of the parliament. #Iraq #Baghdad pic.twitter.com/8acABirX6S

— Sardar Sattar (@SardarSattar) July 30, 2022

Use of water cannons to prevent demonstrators from climbing on the barriers of the green zone in. #Baghdad #Iraq pic.twitter.com/sFl6WVFReD

— Suhad Talabany (@TalabanySuhad) July 30, 2022

As was the case during Wednesday's protests, some demonstrators took the opportunity to take selfies, snapping pics of one another sitting in lawmakers' seats and reportedly asking their comrades for the password to the parliament building's WiFi network.

🔴#Baghdad
Protesters taking pictures at parliament speaker's seat.

Reporters on the ground said protesters repeatedly ask for passwords to connect parliament's WiFi. #Iraq #Baghdad pic.twitter.com/Mf3XGoVLGH

— Sardar Sattar (@SardarSattar) July 30, 2022

The unrest comes amid a long-running deadlock in Iraqi politics following last October's parliamentary elections, in which Sadr's bloc secured the most seats, but failed to form a majority or to cobble together a governing coalition.

The crisis has left Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi running a caretaker government that's been unable to approve a budget, with a range of social problems, from power outages and water shortages to poor healthcare, education and dilapidated infrastructure remaining undealt with.

Sadr's backers have expressed opposition to the prime ministerial candidacy of Mohammed al-Sudani, a former human rights minister of Iraq and former governor of the country's southeastern Maysan governorate. Al-Sudani was nominated by the Coordination Framework - another large coalition of parliamentary parties. The candidate has received support from the Popular Mobilization Units - Iranian-backed paramilitary forces which were formed in 2014 to help beat back and defeat Daesh (ISIS)* after the jihadists took over wide swathes of the country.

Despite his status as a Shia Muslim and studies in Iran, al-Sadr has sought to distance himself from the Islamic Republic in recent years, demanding that the Iranian advisors deployed in Iraq in support of the fight against Daesh leave the country alongside their US counterparts, calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down during the foreign-backed campaign to overthrow him, and pushing to improve Baghdad's ties with the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, notwithstanding Riyadh's alleged abuses against Shia worshipers.

Prime Minister al-Kadhimi's office called on demonstrators to stay peaceful, and to abide by the orders of security forces. "Continuing the political escalation increases the tension and does not serve the public interests," Iraqi media quoted the PM's office as saying.

This week's twin protests and the storming of the parliament is the second time the firebrand cleric's supporters have used the tactic. In 2016, al-Sadr loyalists pulled a similar stunt, demanding political reforms and a reshuffle of the Cabinet of then-Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Iraq is caught between a rock and a hard place as Washington and Tehran compete for influence over the war-torn, instability-prone, and sectarianism-divided nation. Last December, amid years of pressure from parliament for US forces to be pulled out of Iraq, Washington announced the end of its combat mission, with the estimated 2,500 troops still in the country rebranded as "trainers and advisors."

Iran has spent years providing security and economic assistance to its neighbor, notwithstanding the brutal Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, estimated to have killed between 405,000 and 1.2 million people. In May, the two countries agreed to Iranian deliveries of 50 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iraq during the summer months. Last week, Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Behrabian announced that Tehran would continue to assist Baghdad in building up its electricity sector. Iraq's electricity generation capacity has been undercut by years of instability and underinvestment, the 2003 US invasion, the war against Daesh between 2014 and 2017, and corruption by successive US-backed administrations, which have made widespread electricity outages an unpleasant part of daily life for many ordinary Iraqis.

* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.