BAGHDAD – Anti-government protesters tore down walls and poured into the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Saturday, where they stormed parliament in a major escalation of a political crisis that has simmered for months.
Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holding demonstrations and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of Iraq’s corrupt and ineffective political system, but Saturday was the first time they broke into the Green Zone, home to most government ministries and foreign embassies.
Iraqi security forces fired tear gas at one entrance of the zone but appeared to be standing down as protesters marched through the area. Hundreds were still pouring into the Green Zone as night fell.
Iraq has been mired in a political crisis for months, hindering the government’s ability to combat the Islamic State group – which still controls much of the country’s north and west – or address a financial crisis largely caused by the plunge in global oil prices.
Al-Sadr and his supporters want to reform the political system put in place following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, in which entrenched political blocs representing the country’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds rely on patronage, resulting in widespread corruption and poor public services.
The major blocs have until now stymied the reform efforts of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has sought to address the protesters’ demands.
Earlier on Saturday, a bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others, according to police and hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it used a three-ton truck bomb. The extremist group regularly carries out attacks targeting the security forces and the country’s Shiite majority.
