Populist protesters in Iraq have now stormed the country’s parliament building for the second time in one week as pressure mounts against the emerging Iran-aligned government.
Reports have indicated that hundreds or thousands of protesters have descended upon the government’s parliament building to prevent the Iran-tied government from forming, and at least 125 people have been injured in the fighting.
Protesters say they intend to start an open-ended sit-in of the government building that will end when the country has a government not tied to Iran.
This is the moment thousands of demonstrators forced their way into Iraq's parliament in Baghdad's Green Zone today.https://t.co/WoMqVsNlEF pic.twitter.com/BGEdLqjnfG
— DW News (@dwnews) July 30, 2022
NOW – Protesters storm the Iraqi parliament building in #Bagdad for the second time this week.pic.twitter.com/hLTFpV9K6N
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 30, 2022
The protesters, who have brought shipments of mattresses and food to the parliament building to facilitate their sit-in, are followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a populist political figure who described the protests as “a great opportunity to radically change the political system, the constitution, and the elections.”
He described the protests as a “revolution.”
Massive Protests in Iraq!!!
Sadrist protest!
A bulldozer demolishes security barriers at the entrance of a government zone in Iraq.The Protesters invaded and took over Parliament for the 2nd time this week and occupy many Government buildings… pic.twitter.com/17VkU6CEUG
— 777 HERCULES 777 (@77HERCULES77) July 30, 2022
Undoubtedly one of the most insane scenes of this year is this video of protestors chanting anti-governmental slogans as they overtake the parliament in Iraq.
— ريام Ream (@reaam_mh) July 30, 2022
#Iraq in a nutshell… pic.twitter.com/YTgVskBMmg
— Yesar Al-Maleki يَسار (@yesar) July 31, 2022
Protesters previously stormed the government building on July 27, with videos showing the crowd quickly overwhelm local police.
NOW – Protestors storm #Iraq’s parliament in Baghdad.pic.twitter.com/BK5FPvG2wk
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 27, 2022
Baghdad Iraq 🇮🇶 Demonstrators have stormed the parliament buildings in protest against the nomination for Prime Minister by Iran-backed parties….It's happening everywhere, almost by design…. pic.twitter.com/zjA6rmV1eU
— 𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙇𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙉𝙀 (@risemelbourne) July 27, 2022
Iraq has currently lacked a prime minister and president for 10 months as political chaos threatens to once again morph into violence in the war torn nation.
Some have compared the current protests in Iraq, which appear to benefit United States foreign policy goals by opposing creation of a pro-Iran government, to the events of January 6.
“Iraqis may be looking at Jan. 6 patriots, who engineered an alleged insurrection during the infamous rally against election fraud at the U.S. Capitol,” wrote pundit Shane Trejo for Big League Politics, “and saying to their American counterparts, in the words of Matthew McConaughey in The Wolf of Wall Street, ‘those are rookie numbers.'”
