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Protesters defy cleric to continue demonstrations in Iraq’s capital

Hundreds of anti-government protesters flooded the streets of Iraq’s capital and southern provinces, defying a powerful Iraqi religious leader who recently withdrew his support from the popular movement.

Separately, five katyusha rockets crashed into a river bank near the US Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone without causing any injuries, a statement from US Joint Operations Command said.

An Iraqi official initially put the number of rockets at four.

It is the third such attack this month and the perpetrators were not immediately known.

Iraq Protests
A woman lights candles for protesters who have been killed in ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq (Khalid Mohammed/AP)

Security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse the crowds from the capital’s Khilani Square, medical and security officials said.

At least 22 demonstrators were reported wounded by Iraqi security forces in the first hours of Sunday’s street rallies.

The mass protests started in October over widespread government corruption and a lack of public services and jobs.

They quickly grew into calls for sweeping changes to Iraq’s political system that was imposed after the 2003 US invasion.

Iraqi security forces have responded harshly.

At least 500 protesters have been killed since the unrest began.

Iraq Protests
An injured paramedic prepares to help injured protesters (Khalid Mohammed/AP)

Iraq also has been stirred by US-Iran tensions that threatened a regional war after an American drone strike this month killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad.

The US attack pushed the Shiite cleric and political leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, to turn his influence toward demanding an American troop withdrawal and holding an anti-US rally.

Analysts said Mr al-Sadr, who often mobilises his followers on the street to buttress his political influence, was using the anti-US protest he staged as leverage in political negotiations among Iraq’s elites to select the next premier.

Mr al-Sadr has long been an unpredictable maverick in Iraqi politics, and is the only Shiite leader who has challenged both Iran and the US.

He also dropped his support for the anti-government movement on Friday, a move that analysts said was meant to buttress his political reputation during a time of national turmoil.

But by Sunday morning, it had the opposite effect as protesters pushed back.

Hundreds of protesters, mostly students, marched on Sunday through key squares in the capital and southern Iraq to show their continued support for the anti-government movement, despite Mr al-Sadr’s reversal of position.

Iraq Protests
Security forces prepare to intervene (Hadi Mizban/AP)

“The demonstrations have become stronger now because of what happened,” said Zaidoun, 26, a protest organiser in Baghdad.

Many demonstrators chanted slogans against the populist preacher.

The movement opposes Iraq’s sectarian system and both US and Iranian influence in Iraqi affairs.

Some protesters were worried, however, that the departure of Mr al-Sadr’s supporters and his militia members from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the hub of the protest movement, could spark a renewed security crackdown.

Mr al-Sadr’s followers had been giving protesters protective cover.

On Saturday, hours after Mr al-Sadr’s supporters left protest sites in Baghdad and some southern cities, including Basra, security forces swooped in to clear areas of demonstrators and torch their sit-in tents.

At least four protesters were killed in the crackdown.

By Saturday evening however, and into Sunday, crowds of protesters were returning to Tahrir Square, following calls by anti-government activists.

“In the beginning, when he (al-Sadr) called his followers to leave we were shocked,” said Noor, a protest organiser who gave only her first name for security reasons.

“But by the evening on Saturday, we breathed a sigh of relief.”

The future for the popular movement, she was quick to add, was still uncertain.

Iraq Protests
Anti-government protesters hold a huge Iraqi flag (Hadi Mizban/AP)

“No one knows what will happen tomorrow. There will be more attacks — we expect that.”

With Mr al-Sadr out of the picture, protesters said the only top leader on their side was Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric.

Many said they were hoping his weekly Friday sermon would boost morale ahead of a major planned protest for January 31.

In a statement posted online, Mr al-Sadr called on the protesters to return their movement to its “initial course”, in what many anti-government activists interpreted as a veiled threat.

The statement added that Mr al-Sadr could boost his support for the “heroic” security forces if protesters didn’t heed his calls.

Mr al-Sadr had called on his followers to stage a rival protest targeting the US embassy on Sunday, before rescinding the order shortly after.

In a statement from his office, Mr al-Sadr asked Iraqis “who reject the American occupation” to gather at key assembly points later that evening.

A spokesperson from his office later said the decision had been reversed.