Followers of Shiite cleric renew sit-in protest in Baghdad demanding reforms

Hundreds of followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr renewed on Sunday their anti-corruption rallies and sit-in protests under heavy security measures in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The protesters demanded quicker reforms after Iraq's political leaders failed to vote on cabinet of technocrats proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to address the country's economic crisis.

The protests broke out after Sadr late on Saturday warned Abadi, who is a Shiite Muslim and two other top leaders, President Fuad Masum, a Kurd, and Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri, to jointly come up with independent technocrats cabinet.

"The three should coordinate in order to hold a parliament session to present a cabinet of independent technocrats to vote on it within 72 hours," Sadr said in a statement.

Sadr urged the lawmakers, who are on sit-in protest inside the parliament building since Tuesday, not to stop.

He also urged his followers to back the protesting lawmakers in the parliament with "unprecedented popular support through peaceful protests."

In downtown Baghdad, Sadr's followers set up dozens of tents in Tahrir Square, while many others crossed the nearby bridge to rally outside the Green Zone, which houses Iraq's main government offices and some foreign embassies.

The protesters raised the Iraqi flags and chanted slogans hailing Iraq and calling for comprehensive reforms, including government reshuffle, better services and an end to corruption.

On March 31, Abadi presented a cabinet line-up made up of independent professionals who he hoped to free the ministries from the grip of the dominated political parties which use the ministries as resource to fund self interests.

But disagreement between the political parties forced the parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri to repeatedly delay the vote on Abadi's new cabinet lineup.

The repeated delays pushed a group of dissenting MPs on Thursday to sack Jubouri and his two deputies, sparking heated row among the political parties that led to political deadlock.

The reforms were also aimed at curing the country's ailing economy due to the sharp decrease in oil prices in global markets at the time that the security forces are in full-combat with IS terrorist group in northern and western Iraq.

Abadi's reform plan used to be popular, yet with the passing of time the reforms fell short to convince demonstrators who continued their protests and demanded that Abadi be more aggressive against the political parties that benefited from corruption and could reverse the reforms to their own good. Enditem