Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators flocked yesterday to the demonstration squares in Baghdad and nine Iraqi governorates, in protest against Mohamed Tawfiq Allawi’s mandate to form a new government, and the failure to adhere to the demands of the demonstration squares to name an independent candidate, away from the options and pressures of political parties and blocs, and large groups of university and school students joined In Baghdad, and the governorates of Basra, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, Maysan, Wasit, Babil, Karbala, Najaf, and Muthanna, to the demonstration arenas, and chanted slogans calling for a reconsideration of Allawi's nomination to form the government, due to the lack of qualifications to assume the position, as defined by the protest arenas. In their chants, the protesters threatened to raise the state of escalation, and the lack of attendance in universities and schools, until the legitimate demands of the protesters were met, and witnesses stated that the followers of the Sadrist leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, expelled the protesters from the building of the Turkish restaurant in Tahrir Square, using sticks, after That the protesters have been taking refuge from the security forces for four months. In a statement yesterday, Al-Sadr called on his supporters to vacate the sit-in areas, and to help the security forces to open the roads that were closed for months of sit-ins and protests. He also demanded that daily life return to normal after Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi was commissioned to form the government.
The witnesses said that Karbala witnessed cutting all roads in the city, including the streets and the tax road, which caused the riot police to clash with the demonstrators with gas and rubber bullets, and this led to a number of injuries.