"I call on the government to hand over their resignation immediately,” Sadr declared in a statement Friday evening. “I also call for an early and fair election, monitored by the international community. We cannot remain silent with all these martyrs and bloodshed."
Spontaneous protests broke out on Tuesday in Baghdad and quickly spread throughout multiple provinces. Demonstrators are demanding action tackling high youth unemployment, poverty, poor services, and corruption.
Security forces have met the protests with force, using live ammunition, tear gas, and water cannons. According to the latest figures from the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), 43 people have died and 2,029 have been wounded, including both protesters and security personnel. Some 481 protesters have been detained, with 314 of them released.
Among the dead are four – two civilians and two security personnel – shot by “unidentified snipers” in Baghdad, according to the Security Media Cell.
Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi condemned the violence in a press conference on Friday evening, calling for a “swift investigation to hold responsible those who attacked the protesters.”
Numerous factions with the parliament have announced they are suspending their participation in the legislature as a pressure tactic to force the government to develop a plan to address the protesters’ demands.
"In support of the popular movement that rejects corruption and the violation of people's rights, the National Axis Alliance announces the suspension of its lawmakers in the Iraqi parliament until reaching a serious position with the rest of political blocs,” the group of Sunni parties said in a statement issued not long after Sadr’s Sayirun bloc made a similar announcement.
"We call on the prime minister to have an applicable agenda for his government, which includes economic reforms and prioritizes the needs of people,” Hassan al-Aquli, head of the Sayirun bloc, said in press conference in Baghdad. If the prime minister submits an agenda to parliament that meets the demands of protesters, then they will return to the legislature, he added.
MP Sarkawt Shams called for the government to draw up a 12-month strategy for “radical change,” tweeting, “There is no purpose to Parliament’s sessions if it is not to meet the demand of the demonstrators.”
Speaker Halbousi described the protests as a "lesson" for all political parties that the demands of the protesters have not been met in the past and will not be met in the future, "unless there is a real procedural revolution."
"We need a real revolution to fight corruption the same way our security, civilian, religious, and political powers stood against [the Islamic State, ISIS],” he said. "The danger of corruption is no less than the danger of terrorism."
The international community has called on the Iraqi government to open a dialogue in order to get at the root problems that drive people into the streets to protest.
“This is an opportunity for dialogue,” Stephan Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told Rudaw. “The grievances that the people are demonstrating about need to be addressed. And again this should be used as an opportunity for dialogue to find a political solution to the problems.”
Amnesty International tweeted: “Instead of facing the protesters with excessive force, the Iraqi government must address the grievances of the protesters and the root cause of the unrest in a sustainable way.”
Those root causes are a “systemic failure,” Bilal Wahab, Iraqi analyst and Wagner Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Rudaw English. “It’s a failure of the political and economic system in providing services and jobs, which are the two main demands of the protesters.”
Since the first elections post-Saddam Hussein in 2005, the same political parties have stayed in power using “corruption and patronage,” including hiring people, controlling the media, and arming militias, he explained. Holding a vote won’t change that.
“Elections change faces without really changing the system. The system can provide jobs and perks to a few, but cannot create services and economic prosperity,” said Wahab. “The government is literally running out of jobs that they can offer people. Population growth is high and the government cannot catch up. So this system has basically reached its end and it cannot function anymore.”
“Salvaging this situation requires some bold short term acts, prosecute those who shot the protestors, act on the corruption court cases, and start reconstruction projects to put people to work,” he explained. And in the long term, “the government needs to present a credible roadmap for reforming the election system and the economy, and tough acts against corruption – all with time frames and milestones.”
“The Iraqi government knows what needs to be done — they have best of local and international advisors. But reform goes against the entrenched political interests of those in power.”
The powerful are fortified in this system that is failing to meet the expectations of the public, especially the youth, Wahab noted. “Iraq’s youth, who don’t know Saddam Hussein, are post-sectarian, they see that their country is wealthy but they are poor – they’re upset, they’re angry, they’re disappointed, and they’re willing to go to the streets to shout, die or resort to violence if pushed harder.”
With reporting from Majeed Gly in New York.
