Supporters of Iraq’s powerful cleric Sayyed Muqtada Al-Sadr on Tuesday withdrew from streets and Parliament in Baghdad’s Green Zone after he gave them a 60-minute ultimatum to do so.
Al-Manar correspondent in Baghdad reported that Al-Sadr supporters started to withdraw from Parliament and streets, minutes after Sayyed Al-Sadr made his call.
In a press conference in the holy city of Najaf, Sayyed Al-Sadr apologized from the Iraqi people whom he said “are the only victim” of the ongoing violence.
“The killer and the killed are in hell,” Sayyed Al-Sadr stressed.
“Iraq has been now confined by violence and corruption. I hoped that this revolution would have peaceful.”
He called on his supporters to withdraw from streets and the Parliament in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
“If the Sadrist movement’s supporters do not withdraw within sixty minutes from now, I will disavow the movement.”
Sayyed Al-Sadr, meanwhile, stressed that his decision on Monday to retire from political work was “final.”
After the withdrawal, Iraq’s Joint Operations then announced that the curfew was lifted across the country.
Tensions have been high on Monday after Sayyed Al-Sadr said he was quitting political life in Iraq on Monday. Deadly clashes then took place and dozens were killed or injured, including protesters and security servicemen despite curfew in Baghdad.
Many of Al-Sadr’s supporters have been participating in a sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament since the end of July when they stormed the building and stopped Al-Sadr’s rivals, the Coordination Framework Alliance, from appointing a new prime minister.
Source: Al-Manar English Website
