PM Haider Al-Abadi Orders Arrest of Parliament Protesters

BBC:

Iraq’s Prime Minister has ordered the arrest of Shia Muslim activists who stormed parliament in Baghdad on Saturday.

Haider al-Abadi said those who caused damage and attacked police should be brought to justice.

Supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr broke through barricades of the fortified Green Zone in protest against delays in approving a new cabinet.

A state of emergency was declared in Baghdad after the protests.

Supporters of Mr Sadr want MPs to push through plans to replace ministers with political affiliations with non-partisan technocrats.

Humm… non-partisan technocrats loyal to al Sadr, perhaps?

Powerful parties in parliament have refused to approve the change for several weeks.

The BBC’s Ahmed Maher in Baghdad says this is one of the country’s worst political crises since the US-led invasion and downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Systemic political patronage has aided corruption in Iraq, depleting the government’s resources as it struggles to cope with declining oil revenue and the cost of the war against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

Look for Iran to step in in order to “calm tensions” and “restore order.”