'Enough blood': Top Iraqi official urges calm amid Sadrist protests

A top Iraqi official has urged calm in Iraq amid ongoing protests that have seen Muqtada Al Sadr's supporters occupy Baghdad's parliament in a dispute over who should be named the country's next prime minister.

Hadi al-Amiri, head and secretary general of the Badr Organisation, called on the Sadrist movement to refrain from "escalations" after supporters pulled down heavy concrete barricades on roads into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to government buildings and embassies.

“Amid media escalation through statements and counter statements, which call for mass mobilisation that may get out of control and lead to violence, I reiterate my sincere appeal to the brothers in the Sadrist movement to come to the logic of reason, wisdom, self-restraint, [and] deliberation to advance the interest of the country and people," he said.

This can only be done through serious and constructive dialogue, he added.

"Iraqi blood is dear to everyone, and the dear Iraqi people have offered an abundance of bloodshed since the seventies," he added. "Enough blood... the responsibility for its shedding is borne on everyone," he added.

Amiri's comments came after powerful Iraqi Shia cleric Sadr on Sunday urged other factions to support the ongoing protests, despite tear gas, water cannons, and high temperatures which have touched 47C (116F).

Nearly 10 months after elections, the oil-rich country is still without a new government due to the repeated failure of negotiations between rival parties and the en-masse resignation last month of Sadr's bloc - the largest in parliament.

Analysts have said Sadr, a mercurial cleric who once led a militia against US and Iraqi government forces, is using protests to signal that his views must be taken into account in establishing a new government.

Sadr on Sunday took to Twitter to laud a "spontaneous revolution in the Green Zone – a first step", he said, towards "an extraordinary opportunity for a fundamental change in the political system".

However, Sadr's spokesman on Monday responded to Amiri's calls for dialogue, saying the movement supports such moves.

"We repeat the call of the brother Al-Amiri for dialogue between" the conflicting sides.

They added that the Sadr movement has set conditions, including the withdrawal of Al-Amiri from his Coordination Framework party as well as a public condemnation of comments made by former PM Nouri Al-Maliki in leaked recordings.

The immediate trigger for the occupation of parliament was the decision by a rival Shia bloc, which is pro-Iran, to nominate former cabinet minister Mohammed Al-Sudani for the prime minister's post.

A statement issued by a Sadr loyalist on Sunday issued instructions to the protesters, urging them to keep the premises clean, organise unarmed security patrols, and to keep the sit-in going by operating in shifts.

In multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq, government formation has involved complex negotiations since a 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam.

Sadr's bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction but still fell short of a majority. In June, his 73 lawmakers quit in a bid to break a logjam over a new government.

That led to the pro-Iran bloc becoming the largest in parliament, but still there was no agreement on naming a new prime minister, president or cabinet.

The occupation that began on Saturday was the second time within a week that Sadr's supporters had forced their way into the legislative chamber.