Moqtada Sadr, the leader of the Sadr Movement, said: “The country is hostage to corruption and violence.”
After two days of clashes between them and other Shiite groups loyal to Iran and the security forces, which resulted in the deaths of 23 people, Sadr asked his supporters to withdraw completely within 60 minutes.
He said: If the supporters of the Sadr movement do not leave the sit-in within an hour, I will deny it.
Sadr: I ask the supporters of the movement to immediately leave the vicinity of the House of Representatives within 60 minutes.#Arabic pic.twitter.com/lVYrTg48gc
– Arabic (@AlArabiya) August 30, 2022
In response to a question, he said: My retirement is legitimate, not political and definitive. Al-Sadr went on to say that what is happening is not a revolution because it is not peaceful and thanked the security forces for not taking sides in the recent violent incidents.
He apologized to the people of Iraq for the violence in this country.
Hassan al-Zhari, head of the Sadr bloc, resigned from the Iraqi parliament, Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadr movement, said on Monday that he would go on hunger strike “until the violence and the use of weapons stop”.
Reporter #Arabic: The withdrawal of armed people and demonstrators from the Green Zone began after Sadr’s call. pic.twitter.com/C8EJ3ca16W
– Arabic (@AlArabiya) August 30, 2022
Al-Adari added in his user account via Telegram: “The removal of corrupters does not give anyone any justification for violence from any side.”
The Iraqi army, for its part, announced on Tuesday the lifting of the curfew in all parts of Iraq, after the chaos and clashes that arose after the announcement of Sadr’s “permanent retirement” from politics. After Sadr asked his supporters to withdraw from the streets.
Journalists reported that Sadr’s supporters began withdrawing from the Green Zone in the center of the Iraqi capital, and traffic gradually returned to normal.
Yesterday, in a tweet on his Twitter account, Sadr announced that after months of obstruction in the country’s political scene, he will retire from political work and close the offices of his movement. The election of the president and the formation of a new government following the incompatibility of Sadr’s opponents with the framework of pro-Iran coordination.
Clashes with heavy, medium and light weapons in and around the Green Zone resumed for the second consecutive day between supporters of the Sadr movement and Hashd al-Shaabi inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
According to knowledgeable sources and activists, medium and heavy weapons have been used in these conflicts. The number of people killed in these clashes reached 33 people, most of whom were supporters of Sadr, and hundreds were injured in these clashes.
Source: Lebanon Debate
