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BAGHDAD , Jul 27 (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of Iraqi protesters breached Baghdad\u2019s parliament Wednesday, chanting curses against Iran, in a protest against the selection of a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties.<\/p>\n
Many protesters were followers of an influential cleric. Some were seen walking on tables and waving Iraqi flags.<\/p>\n
No lawmakers were present. Only security forces were inside the building and they appeared to allow the protesters in with relative ease.<\/p>\n
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP\u2019s earlier story follows below.<\/p>\n
BAGHDAD (AP) \u2014 Demonstrators, many among them the followers of an influential cleric, breached Baghdad\u2019s heavily fortified Green Zone on Wednesday to protest the selection of a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties.<\/p>\n
Riot police used water cannons to repel demonstrators pulling down cement blast walls. But many breached the gates to the area, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies.<\/p>\n
In the biggest protest since federal elections were held in October, the demonstrators walked down the zone\u2019s main thoroughfare, with dozens gathering outside the doors to the parliament building.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators were protesting the recent nomination of Mohammed al-Sudani as the official nominee of the Coordination Framework bloc, a coalition led by Iran-backed Shiite parties and their allies.<\/p>\n
Riot police assembled at the doors to the main gates. Demonstrators crowded around two entrances to the Green Zone, with some scaling the cement wall and chanting, \u201cSudani, out!\u201d<\/p>\n
Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called for calm and restraint, and for protesters to \u201cimmediately withdraw\u201d from the area.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators were largely followers of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who recently stepped down from the political process despite having won the most seats in the October federal election. Protesters carried portraits of the cleric.<\/p>\n
Al-Sadr\u2019s followers stormed the Green Zone in 2016 and entered the country\u2019s parliament building.<\/p>\n
Al-Sudani was selected by State of Law leader and former premier Nouri al-Maliki. Before al-Sudani can face parliament to be seated officially as premier-designate, parties must first select a president.<\/p>\n
Al-Sadr exited government formation talks after he was not able to corral enough lawmakers to get the majority required to elect Iraq\u2019s next president.<\/p>\n
By replacing his lawmakers, the Framework leader pushed ahead to form next government. Many fear doing so also opens the doors to street protests organized by al-Sadr\u2019s large grass roots following and instability.<\/p>\n
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BAGHDAD , Jul 27 (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of Iraqi protesters breached Baghdad\u2019s parliament Wednesday, chanting curses against Iran, in a protest against the selection of a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties. Many protesters were followers of an influential cleric. Some were seen walking on tables and waving Iraqi flags. No lawmakers were present. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}