Muqtada al Sadr, the Iraqi cleric whose retirement from politics prompted his supporters to storm the government palace on Monday, condemned the violence and called for an end to the deadly clashes.
His supporters breached the palace gates and pulled down the cement barriers in Baghdad's secure Green Zone on Monday, prompting the military to order a nationwide curfew. Twenty-two people were killed, according to Reuters, as fighting occurred between Sadr’s supporters and rival Shiite Muslim factions with Iranian support.
“I apologize to the Iraqi people,” he continued. “I was hoping for a peaceful demonstration, not with mortars and weapons. I don’t want such revolution.” Sadr had won broad support for opposing both U.S. and Iranian influence on Iraqi politics and was the big winner from October’s election, but he withdrew his party’s lawmakers from parliament in June after he was unable to form a government that excluded his opposition. The most recent source of fighting was sparked following an announcement from Sadr of his retirement and withdrawal from the government.
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