Inspired by Sri Lanka? Muqtada al-Sadr’s followers cool off in pool after storming palace; watch here

New Delhi: Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in a televised speech on Tuesday, called upon his supporters, hundreds of whom stormed the government palace and have been holding an ongoing sit-in outside the parliament building, to leave within an hour.The development comes after chaos erupted in Iraq's capital Baghdad soon after al-Sadr announced on Monday that he would quit politics. Thousands of his followers stormed Iraq's presidential palace resulting in the death of two persons.Later, pictures and videos emerged online of demonstrators, in a rerun of the recent protests in Sri Lanka, cooling off in the pool of the government palace.Several people were injured during the clashes between al-Sadr supporters and security forces in Baghdad's Green Zone, and several of them were hit by tear gas and stun grenades as they storm the government palace in Baghdad, according to Russia Today.An immediate curfew was put in place right after as Palace security was unable to control the mass of demonstrators.As per Russia Today, Al-Sadr's announcement came in reaction to the retirement of Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, who counts many of al-Sadr's supporters as followers.Al-Haeri announced he would be stepping down as a religious authority for health reasons and called on his followers to throw their allegiance behind Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rather than the Shia spiritual center in Iraq's holy city of Najaf, media reported.Earlier in July, numerous Iraqi demonstrators, mostly supporters of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the heavily fortified parliament building in Baghdad to protest against the nomination for prime minister by rival Iran-backed parties. The protesters were opposing the candidacy of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for the post of prime minister, as they believe him to be too close to Iran.Notably, Al-Sadr's bloc won 73 seats in Iraq's October 2021 election, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament but, ever since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled, and Al-Sadr stepped down from the political process. A deadlock persists over the establishment of a new government.In 2016 too Al-Sadr's supporters stormed the parliament in a similar fashion. They staged a sit-in and issued demands for political reform after then-Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi sought to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats in an anti-corruption drive.Mass protests erupted in 2019 amid public anger over corruption and unemployment and this current protest poses a challenge for the oil-rich country.With input from agenciesAlso read:Iraq: Powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr urges supporters to end protests as clashes claim 23 lives in BaghdadRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.