Muqtada al-Sadr uses street pressure to set political conditions for his rivals
Influential Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr vowed that new elections would be held as his followers flocked to a mass prayer in the occupied parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone after 10 months of political deadlock.
BAGHDAD — The heat was suffocating and the crowds were immense, blocking traffic and slowing emergency vehicles to a crawl.
And yet on Aug. 5, thousands — or hundreds of thousands — of supporters of firebrand Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continued to make their way to an area of the heavily fortified Green Zone for Friday prayers on parched grass against the backdrop of famous and enormous crossed swords erected to symbolize a previous Iraqi strongman’s power.
Most were dressed in black for the holy month of Muharram when Shiites commemorate the martyrhood of their third imam. Many were carrying pictures of the cleric. The small number of women present were in long black abayas, many wearing face-covering niqabs despite temperatures of almost 50 degrees Celsius.
The bronze hands clutching the swords, known as the Victory Arch and symbolizing Saddam Hussein’s rule, had been modeled on those of the former Iraqi dictator. Sadr has instead long claimed to represent Iraq’s seething masses and oppressed underclass.
