Iraq tense as rival groups stage protests simultaneously

Iraq tense as rival groups stage protests simultaneously
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Tensions in Iraq are likely to escalate as rival groups prepare to hold ground in the nine month stalemate over forming a government in the country.

After Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr’s supporters stormed once again the parliament and this time prepared for an open-ended sit-in, its arch enemy the Coordination Framework also called on its supporters to stage counter-demonstrations near the Green Zone, an area currently filled with swarths of Sadr supporters, to "defend the state" against the Sadrists’ "suspicious coup" 

Sadr already announced on Twitter the "liberation" of the Green Zone, calling on his followers to push for a complete overhaul of the political system, including a new constitution, and expel the country's elites whom he condemned as "corrupt".

"The recent developments portend plots of a suspicious coup to seize the state, abolish its legitimacy, insult its constitutional institutions, and cancel the democratic process in it," the Coordination Framework's committee in charge of organizing the "pro-legitimacy" demonstrations said in a statement on Sunday.

"Fulfill your promise and pledge. Never to humiliation," the statement added, "tomorrow at five in the afternoon at the walls of the Green [Zone]."

In October elections, Sadr movement came first and had around a quarter of the seats but failed to form a government. 

In consequence, he withdrew his party from parliament and led his massive supporters to agitate through street protests.