CAIRO, August 30. /TASS/: Most supporters of the movement of powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr have withdrawn from Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Al Jazeera television aired a video of emptied areas in Baghdad where government offices and foreign diplomatic missions are located. Remaining Sadr followers are folding up camps they had put up earlier for sit-ins near parliament, according to Alsumaria TV.
Pan-Arabic TV channel al-Arabiya said security forces had unblocked Al-Jumhuriya Bridge that leads to the Green Zone. According to Sky News Arabia, the military has also reopened all roads blocked by demonstrators in Bagdad on Monday.
Earlier, the Shia leader called on his supporters to leave the area near the republic’s parliament within an hour. The Iraqi army’s Joint Command lifted a nationwide curfew that had been in effect since Monday.
On Monday, hundreds of supporters of al-Sadr who announced his retirement from politics flooded the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, surrounded the Republican Palace and entered the building. Protests escalated into armed clashes with security forces who attempted to squeeze Sadr supporters. According to the latest reports, 30 people were killed, with over 300 others injured. Also, protests and clashes have erupted in other Iraqi regions.
