Supporters of the Iraqi opposition leader Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the Iraqi parliament for the second time in the last few days, erecting tents and preparing for a long sit-in, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.
Some protestors spent the night inside the parliament on blankets, and others in the surrounding gardens on plastic mats.
Volunteers distributed water, soup, hard-boiled eggs and bread to the protestors.
Despite negotiations between the parties in the nearly 10 months since the elections, there is still no progress regarding the formation of a new government, and supporters of al-Sadr have started direct action in protest against Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a prime ministerial candidate from the rival Shia bloc.
On Saturday Muhammad al-Halbousi, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, announced his decision to suspend parliamentary sessions until further notice.
“We are living here in difficult and sensitive times that require all of us to control our anger, to have the highest degree of sincere national responsibility, in which everyone bears the results alike,” he said in a statement, adding.
“I call on the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to take the necessary measures to protect institutions and protect the demonstrators, whom I call upon to preserve the peace and preserve state property.”
Although al-Sadr’s bloc emerged as the largest parliamentary group after the elections last October, it still fell short of a majority.
In June, 73 Sadrist MPs quit their seats in a move to force rival parties into fast-tracking the formation of a government.
