Supporters of the Sadrist movement continue their sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament for the second week, stressing that they will continue until the demands of the movement's leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, to dissolve the current parliament and hold early elections are met.
At the entrances to the sit-in, entry points were identified, where everyone was subjected to searches for fear of being carrying a weapon.
One of the protesters says that their activity came on the orders of their leader Muqtada al-Sadr, "We will stay here even if the protest continues for years, and we will continue this open protest until the demands of the leader Muqtada al-Sadr are met."
Another - sitting inside a tent set up next to the parliament - said that the ruling parties are obliged to meet our calls to dissolve parliament and hold early elections, stressing that this is the people's demand and that "there is no authority above the authority of the people."
He explained that their sit-in came to confirm the popular trend to remove all corrupt parties from the scene that they controlled 19 years ago.
The Sadrist sit-in began on July 30 in Parliament, until they decided, days later, to leave the Parliament building to its surroundings.
Al-Sadr won the largest number of parliament seats (73 out of 329) in the October elections, but failed to form a majority government despite forming an alliance with Sunni and Kurdish parties, while the coordination framework adheres to a government of national consensus as usual.
Al-Sadr withdrew his deputies from Parliament last June, and resorted to applying pressure through protests and the current sit-in in Parliament, taking advantage of his broad popular base.