Angered by corruption, Iraqis storm parliament
Protest deepens the political crisis threatening nation
BAGHDAD — Hundreds of protesters stormed Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Saturday and entered the parliament building, waving Iraqi flags, snapping photographs, breaking furniture and demanding an end to corruption. The episode deepened a political crisis that has paralyzed Iraq’s government for weeks.
As the chaos unfolded — one lawmaker was attacked and protesters damaged several vehicles near parliament — the Baghdad Operations Command announced a state of emergency, deploying additional forces around the capital city. Checkpoints at city entrances were closed, even as the protests remained largely nonviolent.
The scenes of protest, circulated in photographs and videos on social media sites, were potent demonstrations of the anger that has grown during months of protests by Iraqis demanding that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi carry out measures to end sectarian quotas in politics and fight corruption. No shots fired
The protesters were mostly supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and rather than pushing for the ouster of al-Abadi, they have largely supported the prime minister as he has sought to make good on promises, still unfulfilled, to improve how the government works.
The ease with which they penetrated the rim of the Green Zone suggested that security forces — and perhaps al-Abadi himself, as some hinted — were supportive of the protesters. There were no reports of shots fired, and al-Sadr’s own militiamen were said to have taken charge of se- curity near parliament. Later in the evening, security officers fired tear gas and warning shots to prevent more people from entering the enclave.
By nightfall, the protesters were leaving parliament and gathering in another section of the Green Zone — Celebration Square, an area with a famous statue of giant crossed swords that was once a parade ground for Saddam Hussein. The protesters seemed to be settling in there for the night, and al-Abadi said the “security situation in Baghdad is under control.”
Just before protesters entered the Green Zone, al-Sadr gave a speech from Najaf, in southern Iraq, saying, “I’m waiting for the great popular uprising and the great revolution to stop the march of corrupted officials.” ‘Mocking our pain’
For many protesters, jubilant at having breached the blast walls and razor wire that ring it, the Green Zone was a place they had never been.
One protester inside parliament, speaking to the Kurdish news channel Rudaw, pointed to chocolates on the desks of lawmakers and said: “People have nothing to eat. The lawmakers are sitting here eating chocolates and mocking our pain.”
To Iraqis who have lived through the Hussein reign, the U.S. occupation and the current turmoil, the Green Zone has long symbolized tyranny, occupation and corruption.
Above all, it has been a sign of the separation between the people and a ruling elite unresponsive to the aspirations of Iraq’s citizens.
The mere presence of protesters in the halls of government adds a new element to Iraq’s paralysis as the country struggles to keep up the fight against the Islamic State and faces a collapse in oil prices that has sharply reduced government revenue.
Sajad Jiyad, an adviser to al-Abadi, said Saturday that the prime minister was at a military compound inside the Green Zone and was confident that the situation would calm down.
Al-Abadi, he said, had ordered Special Forces soldiers to seal the area around parliament and to organize a peaceful withdrawal of the demonstrators.