(ANSAMed) – BEIRUT, JUL 28 – Tension remains very high this morning in Baghdad, Iraq, after the vehement protests, also staged inside the premises of the national parliament in the super-fortified Green Zone of the capital, by followers of the Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr against pro-Iranian Shiite armed parties.
The outgoing president of the Iraqi Republic, Barham Saleh, warned of any kind of “escalation” of violence, which could “damage civil peace” and “the security of the country”.
The UN representation in Iraq, for its part, said it was “concerned about any type of violence in demonstrations” in Iraq, but reiterated the need to protect the citizens’ right to demonstrate peacefully.
The protests last night by the Sadrists were provoked by the decision of the coalition of pro-Iranian Shiite armed parties to unilaterally nominate a candidate for premier to form the new government. And this after the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, which won the October elections, had decided to withdraw from the assembly after the failure of several rounds of negotiations between the parties for the appointment of a new prime minister.
The heated political and personal clash between Moqtada Sadr and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki also emerges in the background, who for years has fully entered the orbit of Iraqi Shiite political figures very close to Tehran.
Local observers do not rule out that inter-Shiite clashes, including armed ones, may occur in the next few hours and days between supporters of Maliki and his allies close to Iran against followers of Moqtada Sadr. (ANSAMed).
Source: Ansa
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