Iraqi protesters force their way into parliament.
Hundreds of Iraqi protesters, many of them followers of Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, have stormed the parliament building in Baghdad.
Protesters, opposed to a rival bloc’s nomination for prime minister, stormed the capital’s high-security Green Zone, home to government buildings and diplomatic missions, on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi called on the protesters to “immediately withdraw” from the Green Zone.
He warned in a statement that the security forces would take care of “the protection of state institutions and foreign missions and the prevention of any damage to security and order”.
Al-Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in Iraq’s October 2021 elections, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament.
But since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled.
The protesters oppose the candidacy of Mohammed al-Sudani, a former minister and former provincial governor, who is the pick of the pro-Iranian Coordination Framework for prime minister.