After a serious escalation of the country’s political crisis, armed supporters of a prominent Iraqi cleric who had clashed with security personnel in the capital started to leave the streets on Tuesday. This helped to restore some calm.
Clergyman Muqtada al-Sadr, 48, told his followers to leave the government district where they had gathered after two days of deadly unrest that raised concerns that instability might spread throughout the nation and even the region. Within minutes, some were observed responding to the call, taking down their tents, and leaving the “Green Zone.”
Supporters of the cleric packed up their belongings, and trucks transported mattresses wrapped in blankets.
Roadways and the steps leading up to the Iraqi parliament building were covered in mountains of trash. As al-supporters Sadr’s rolled up carpets, tea glasses, and the remains of their four-week sit-in, a portrait of him waving was propped up against a tree.
The lifting of a nationwide curfew, which was also announced by the Iraqi military, gave rise to more optimism that the crisis was abating even though the larger political crisis was still unresolved. How issues like the dissolution of parliament and the holding of early elections will be handled between opposing groups has been questioned in light of Al-attempt Sadr’s to defuse tensions.
Outside of the government zone, protesters who were in favor of al-adversaries Sadr’s disbanded their gathering as well.
Since al-party Sadr’s received the largest number of seats in the October parliamentary elections, but not enough to secure a majority government, Iraq’s government has been impassed. Between al-Shiite Sadr’s supporters and his Iran-backed Shiite rivals, this resulted in months of political infighting before it turned violent on Monday.
When al-Sadr declared he would leave politics, chaos ensued. Many saw the move as a ruse to increase his leverage, and his supporters stormed the Green Zone, which used to be the U.S. military’s stronghold but is now the location of the Iraqi government and foreign embassies. They eventually broke through the government palace’s gates and barraged its opulent salons and marbled halls.
On Tuesday, his supporters could be seen on live television launching rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into the heavily-defended Green Zone as security personnel intermittently returned fire and armored vehicles waited in line. A few onlookers used their smartphones to record the gunfight, but the majority hid behind walls and winced whenever shots rang out nearby.
After several Iraqi officials and the UN pleaded for restraint, at least 30 people were reported dead before al-Sadr told his supporters to return home.
Al-Sadr, whose proclamations of revolution and reform inspired his supporters to storm the parliament in July, apologized to the Iraqi people and said he could not support the violence.
