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| Moqtada al-Sadr supporters attempt Baghdad green zone break-in | Moqtada al-Sadr supporters attempt Baghdad green zone break-in |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Thousands of supporters of the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have attempted to break into Baghdad’s fortified green zone again, three weeks after storming parliament. | |
| A huge deployment of security forces met the protesters with teargas, sound bombs and water cannon on Friday, according to an AFP reporter who saw several demonstrators with light injuries. | A huge deployment of security forces met the protesters with teargas, sound bombs and water cannon on Friday, according to an AFP reporter who saw several demonstrators with light injuries. |
| The protesters gathered on Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, removed barbed wire on one of the main bridges over the Tigris and massed outside the green zone. | The protesters gathered on Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, removed barbed wire on one of the main bridges over the Tigris and massed outside the green zone. |
| Related: Moqtada al-Sadr: who is the cleric directing Iraq's protests? | Related: Moqtada al-Sadr: who is the cleric directing Iraq's protests? |
| The Sadr supporters, who have been protesting for months to demand reforms and an end to corruption, pushed past a gate of the green zone but were swiftly pinned back. | The Sadr supporters, who have been protesting for months to demand reforms and an end to corruption, pushed past a gate of the green zone but were swiftly pinned back. |
| Sadr supporters had encountered relatively little resistance when they pulled down slabs of blast walls surrounding the zone last month and were able to enter the main parliament building. | Sadr supporters had encountered relatively little resistance when they pulled down slabs of blast walls surrounding the zone last month and were able to enter the main parliament building. |
| The breach of the green zone – which is home to the prime minister’s office as well as the US embassy and several others – further deepened the country’s political crisis. | The breach of the green zone – which is home to the prime minister’s office as well as the US embassy and several others – further deepened the country’s political crisis. |
| Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister, has proposed reforms and wants to replace the current government of party-affiliated ministers with a cabinet of technocrats. | Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister, has proposed reforms and wants to replace the current government of party-affiliated ministers with a cabinet of technocrats. |
| Many parties however have resisted a move that would undermine the very patronage system that is the main source of their power. | Many parties however have resisted a move that would undermine the very patronage system that is the main source of their power. |
| Sadr, a Najaf-based cleric who once fought the US occupation, has recently cast himself as a champion of the drive against corruption. | Sadr, a Najaf-based cleric who once fought the US occupation, has recently cast himself as a champion of the drive against corruption. |
| His followers pulled out of the green zone a day after breaking in three weeks ago but warned they would return if parliament again failed to take swift action on reforms. | His followers pulled out of the green zone a day after breaking in three weeks ago but warned they would return if parliament again failed to take swift action on reforms. |
| However parliament has failed to even reconvene since the incident, infuriating the Sadrist movement. | However parliament has failed to even reconvene since the incident, infuriating the Sadrist movement. |
| Sadr supporters have blamed the government for a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, including a particularly deadly one in their bastion of Sadr City, even though Isis claimed responsibility for them. | Sadr supporters have blamed the government for a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, including a particularly deadly one in their bastion of Sadr City, even though Isis claimed responsibility for them. |