Sadr steps up pressure with calls for Baghdad camp

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on supporters to camp outside Baghdad's Green Zone as a deadline for reform demands looms.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

12 March, 2016

The popular cleric has given the government a 45-day deadline to reshuffle cabinet [Getty]

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to increase pressure on the government by camping out in Baghdad's Green Zone until their reform demands are met.

The popular Shia cleric, who has led pro-reform protests in the capital, said that the sit-in demanding a cabinet reshuffle would begin next Friday, March 18.

"I make a historic call to every honest, reform-loving Iraqi to rise up and start a new phase in the peaceful popular protests," the statement said.

The move is the latest measure in Sadr's plan "to oust corruption from the government" after he issued an ultimatum last month.

"Get ready and organise yourselves to establish sit-in tents. This is your time to root out corruption and the corrupt," he said.

The 45-day deadline given to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who promised to revive reform pledges he made last year, ends in ten days' time.

Sadr's movement has been attempting to kick-start the government's procedures to expel "corrupt and ineffective" members of parliament - who the cleric says should be replaced with technocrats.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have heeded calls by the cleric with rallies held across the capital city.

Sadr threatened to storm the Green Zone - a safe area for senior Iraqi officials as well as international diplomats - if the demands are not met.

Thousands of the Najaf-based cleric's supporters, as well as members of Sadr's Peace Brigades, have arrived in the capital from the south of Iraq.

The protesters joined an existing secular movement that has been demonstrating against corruption and the lack of basic services such as water and electricity.