Iraqis end demonstration in Baghdad's Green Zone

Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attend a sit-in inside Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone on Sunday, May 1, 2016. Anti-government protesters stormed parliament in a major escalation of a political crisis that has simmered for months.
Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attend a sit-in inside Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone on Sunday, May 1, 2016. Anti-government protesters stormed parliament in a major escalation of a political crisis that has simmered for months.

BAGHDAD — Anti-government protesters temporarily ended their mass demonstration in Baghdad's Green Zone and began an orderly withdrawal Sunday, a day after tearing down walls around the government district and invading parliament.

Loudspeakers manned by followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has led the protest movement, announced the disbanding of the protests, which marked the culmination of months of sit-ins and demonstrations demanding the overhaul of a political system widely viewed as corrupt and ineffective.

"We decided to end it now because of the anniversary of Imam al-Kadhim," said Sadiq al-Hashemi, a representative of al-Sadr's office in Baghdad who was present at the protests.

Al-Hashemi said al-Sadr made the decision to allow Iraqi security forces to protect the thousands of pilgrims who are expected to walk from across Iraq to the shrine of the 8th-century Imam in Baghdad.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered authorities to arrest and prosecute those among the protesters who attacked security forces, lawmakers and damaged state property after breaking into the Green Zone.

Videos on social media showed a group of young men surrounding and slapping two Iraqi lawmakers as they attempted to flee the crowd, while other protesters mobbed lawmakers' motorcades.

Jubilant protesters were also seen jumping and dancing on the parliament's meeting hall tables and chairs and waving Iraqi flags. No one was seriously wounded. The protesters left parliament late Saturday and rallied in a nearby square.

Al-Hashemi said the protests would resume after the pilgrimage ends this week. He also said the al-Sadr movement would give Iraqi lawmakers one more chance to vote in new reforms.

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