In the face of the escalating tension in Iraq following clashes in the capital, Baghdad, between rival Shiite factions, the authorities responded by issuing several decisions, most notably imposing a curfew in all Iraq's governorates.
And the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, announced - yesterday, Monday - that he entered a hunger strike and retired from political work, apparently in protest against the political crisis that the country has been witnessing for several months, while the fortified Green Zone - where the headquarters of the authority and foreign embassies witnessed clashes in which 20 people were killed, in addition to to hundreds of injuries.
The most prominent decisions of the Iraqi authorities in the past hours were as follows:
In a statement issued by the Joint Operations Command, the Iraqi army announced an open curfew throughout the country, starting at seven in the evening on Monday, and urged protesters to leave the Green Zone.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, who leads a caretaker government, said that he directed the suspension of cabinet sessions until further notice, after "demonstrators entered the government palace" on Monday.
Al-Kazemi called for an emergency security meeting at the military headquarters, after Muqtada al-Sadr called for "intervention by directing the demonstrators to withdraw from government institutions."
Al-Kazemi directed the opening of an urgent investigation into the events of the Green Zone, stressing the prevention of the use of live bullets against demonstrators from any party, according to a statement by his media office.
The government announced the suspension of official working hours in all governorates for Tuesday, according to the official news agency.
On Monday, the Iraqi News Agency reported that the head of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, had started a hunger strike "until the violence and the use of weapons stop."
This came after fierce clashes took place in Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens, after al-Sadr's decision to withdraw from political life prompted his supporters to storm a huge government complex in Baghdad, and led to clashes with rival Shiite groups.
As night fell, the sounds of machine gun fire and explosions resounded in the Green Zone, which includes government headquarters and foreign embassies, in the worst fighting the Iraqi capital has seen in years.