<article><p class="lead">Supporters of the powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed Iraq's presidential and government palaces in Baghdad's Green Zone today, hours after al-Sadr announced quitting political life.</p><p>Protests broke out in Baghdad <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2365515">after al-Sadr announced</a> his "final withdrawal and the closure of all [Sadrist] institutions". The protestors were seen breaking into the palace on live TV.</p><p>Iraq's Joint Operations Command set a curfew across all Iraq's provinces starting at 19:00 local time (GMT +3), state news agency INA reported. Caretaker prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi suspended the sessions of the council of ministers "until further notice" in the wake of the storming of the government headquarters.</p><p>"The persistence of the dispute to the point of damaging all state institutions does not serve the people of Iraq," al-Kadhimi said in a statement. </p><p>Al-Sadr's announcement of withdrawal from politics comes amid a severe and protracted political impasse that unraveled following the parliamentary elections in October 2021. The two rival Shia constituencies — the Sadrists and the and the Co-ordination Framework, a pro-Iran alliance — are at loggerheads over the direction of the country.</p><p>Al-Sadr's party won a majority of seats in Parliament, and he promised to form a "national majority" government in alliance with the Sunnis and the Kurds, a euphemism for one that excludes pro-Iran groups. Al-Sadr failed to achieve that goal and withdrew from parliament, leaving the door wide open for the Coordination Framework to go down Iraq's traditional fall-back route of forming a "national unity" government.</p><p>Al-Sadr opposes creation of a national unity government, contending that following the traditional path will prevent <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2358518">the country's political system</a> from evolving beyond what is a corruption-riddled sectarian power-sharing arrangement.</p><p>Al-Sadr supporters since the end of July have occupied parliament and protested near government buildings, torpedoing the Coordination Framework's efforts to form a government.</p><p>Sadr has previously announced his withdrawal from politics but has often walked back his decision. Iraq, Opec's second largest oil producer, is witnessing its worst political crisis since the US invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.</p><p class="bylines">By Bachar Halabi</p></article>
