Protesters start open sit-in inside Iraqi parliament

BAGHDAD (AA) - Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr started an open sit-in protest inside the parliament on Saturday after they breached the building in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, according to state media.

"The open sit-in the parliament was people's choice," Ibrahim al-Jabri, director of the Sadrist movement's office, was quoted as saying by Iraqi News Agency.

Earlier on Saturday, demonstrators from the Sadrist movement broke into the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, protesting the nomination of Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani for the premiership.

Sixty protesters were injured in clashes with security forces, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Due to political differences, a new government has not been formed since early parliamentary elections were held in October 2021.

On July 25, the "Coordination Framework" alliance chose the 52-year-old al-Sudani as a candidate to head the next government, in a new step towards ending the crisis that has been going on for more than eight months.

Attitudes regarding al-Sudani's candidacy were divided between supporters and opponents, as the protest movement and the Shiite Sadrist movement demanded the nomination of a figure without any governmental history.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report