Al Sadr begins a hunger strike to demand an end to violence in Iraq

Aug. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The cleric Muqtada al Sadr has started a hunger strike to call for an end to the violence that has shaken Baghdad on Monday, precisely after the Shiite leader announced his withdrawal from political life.

The head of Al Sadr’s former bloc in Parliament, Hassan al Athari, has announced the cleric’s measure on Twitter, from where he has also pointed out that there can be no “justification” for the use of violence by either side, according to the official agency INA.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mostafá al Kazemi, who had previously summoned Al Sadr to calm his followers, has thanked the call to stop the violence through social networks. Likewise, he has urged all parties to work to avoid a further escalation of tensions.

Al Kazemi has ordered the security forces not to use live ammunition to suppress Al Sadr’s followers, after at least eight people have died this Monday due to clashes in Baghdad’s Green Zone, reports the NINA agency.

The authorities have imposed a curfew to try to contain this wave of violence, which has also spread to other areas of Iraq, and which takes the political crisis in which the Arab country lives after ten months of failure to form a government to a new level. .