Protesters in Iraq pull back from Green Zone

Embattled prime minister is still working on a cabinet reshuffle.

BAGHDAD — Carrying the tents and blankets they had brought for what many expected to be a longer sit-in, supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr streamed out of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Sunday, a day after they had broken in, ransacking parliament and demanding reform.

Akhlas al-Obaidi, a protest organizer, delivered the message of Sadr’s wishes to the crowd: Go home to give political decisionmaking a chance. She said protesters would be back Friday to make a “major stand” and vowed they would keep up the pressure.

The pullback by Sadr gives Iraq’s embattled prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, some breathing space, but the task ahead of him is a thorny one. The cleric has called for an end to the quota system that apportions Iraq’s cabinet positions along sectarian lines and is demanding a technocratic government. But such changes would probably be obstructed at every turn by those who think they would lose power.

Parliament descended into chaos during earlier attempts by Abadi to reshuffle his cabinet. Now the prime minister needs to get lawmakers to vote on his list of candidates at a time when many are incensed over Saturday’s security breach, which saw them fleeing from protesters who attempted to block their way and beat them on their way out.

Abadi met on Sunday morning with the president, the speaker of parliament and other political leaders to try to steer the country out of turmoil. A statement released afterward said they planned “intense” meetings in the coming days to work on reforms.

“Can he achieve a reshuffle? The answer is no,” said Kirk Sowell, a Jordanian political analyst. “Sadr knows that. It’s all a game.”

Before they left the Green Zone, the protesters presented their demands: Create a technocratic government or they will demand the ouster of the prime minister, the president and the speaker. If that doesn’t happen, they will demand early elections, and if all else fails, they will storm the headquarters of political leaders.

“We are going out, but we will come back,” Obaidi said. One other reason to withdraw, she said, was because of the upcoming commemoration of the death of an 8th-century imam, Musa al-Kadhim. Shiite pilgrims are walking from all over the country to visit his shrine in Baghdad.

Before their withdrawal, the demonstrators dug in at a square that Saddam Hussein once used for his military parades, chanting from the presidential viewing platform. It is an area many Iraqis have been unable to visit for 13 years.