Muqtada al-Sadr’s move thrust the country, which has gone months without a new government, deeper into crisis. Security forces opened fire on protesters supporting him, an official said.
The influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said on Monday that he was retiring from Iraqi politics and closing all of his movement’s political and social institutions, deepening the country’s political crisis and raising fears that his followers could increasingly turn to destabilizing street protests to achieve their aims.
His announcement sent hundreds of his followers into the streets of the capital, Baghdad, where they breached concrete barriers guarding the so-called Green Zone, the site of Parliament, Iraqi government offices and diplomatic missions, including the U.S. Embassy.
One protester was killed and about 20 were injured by Iraqi security forces who opened fire on them inside the Green Zone, according to a senior military official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.
Iraqi security forces declared a curfew in Baghdad effective immediately and announced a nationwide curfew in most provinces beginning Monday evening.
Iraq has been without a new government since elections last October, in which candidates loyal to Mr. Sadr won the single biggest bloc of seats and eclipsed rival Shiite political parties backed by Iran. That has left the country with a caretaker government that has not been able to address urgent economic problems, such as passing an annual budget, among other priorities.
Mr. Sadr, whose militia fought U.S. troops during the American occupation of Iraq, comes from a family of revered clerics and is Iraq’s most influential Shiite religious figure involved in politics. In the midst of disagreements with other parties over who should be president and prime minister, he threw the process of forming a government into turmoil in June when he ordered members of Parliament loyal to him to resign.
His followers then set up a tent camp that blockaded Parliament for weeks to prevent lawmakers from meeting. They also occupied the Parliament building itself for a few days, but later withdrew.
On Monday, protesters breached the entrance of the Republican Palace, one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces that served as the headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation and now hosts cabinet meetings. Security forces closed roads south of the capital, preventing more protesters from arriving from southern provinces, and video posted on social media showed riot police using water cannons against some demonstrators.
Mr. Sadr has mobilized much larger gatherings of followers in the streets in recent weeks to protest against government corruption and foreign interference in Iraq.
The use of force against protesters by Iraqi security forces also raised the prospect of heightened tension within the security forces. The forces include both supporters of Mr. Sadr and members of Iraqi militias backed by Iran — some of them tied to political parties that are rivals of the Shiite cleric.
Mr. Sadr in his statement said he was also closing all institutions linked to the Sadrists except for the tomb of his father, Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated while Saddam Hussein was in power, and other offices related to the family’s religious heritage.
“I have decided not to interfere in political affairs so now I announce my final retirement,” Mr. Sadr wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said he was suspending cabinet sessions until further notice. In an appeal to Mr. Sadr, he said perpetuating political disputes “to the point of damaging all state institutions does not serve the Iraqi people, their aspirations, their future and their territorial integrity.”
Mr. Sadr has said before that he was leaving politics and even temporarily suspended his political activities and closed his movement’s offices, prompting questions about whether this could be a tactic to eventually strengthen his negotiating position in the now-paralyzed efforts to form a government.
“He repeatedly says he’s not going to be part of politics and then inevitably comes back in,” said Sajad Jiyad, an Iraq-based fellow at the Century Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank. “Maybe this is a way of giving breathing space to all sides.”
Mr. Sadr is known as an Iraqi nationalist. He had been trying to form a new government with Sunni Arab and Kurdish partners before those monthslong negotiations failed.
The resignation and the appearance of his followers in the streets could also be “a means to exert pressure and have people beg him to roll back his decision,” said Elie Abouaoun, a director at the United States Institute of Peace.
Falih Hassan, Nermeen al-Mufti and Awadh al-Taie contributed reporting.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
