Sadr supporters stormed the building on Saturday. "The demonstrators are announcing a sit-in until further notice," Sadr's movement announced in a statement via the online service Whatsapp, which was distributed by the state news agency INA.
Despite the use of water cannon and tear gas by the security forces, thousands of demonstrators broke through the concrete barriers to the strictly secured green zone in Baghdad, where the parliament building is located, on Saturday. According to the Ministry of Health, at least a hundred demonstrators and 25 security forces were injured. Sadr supporters had already briefly occupied the parliament on Wednesday.
They are protesting against the candidacy of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for the post of prime minister, who was set up by an alliance of pro-Iranian Shiites - the so-called coordination framework. It also includes former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a longtime opponent of Sadr.
The formation of a government has been at an impasse for months, as has the election of a new president. As long as there is no new president, no new government can be formed.
The people's tribune, preacher and former militia leader Sadr emerged with his alliance as the strongest force from the parliamentary elections in October. He has been pulling the strings in politics in Iraq for years.
In June, the Shiite leader ensured that his 73 MPs withdrew from the 329-strong parliament. But that same month, 64 new parliamentarians were sworn in, making the pro-Iran bloc the largest in parliament.
The mobilization of the masses was a clear message from Sadr to his rivals that there would be no government "without his consent," said political scientist Ali al-Baidar after the first occupation of parliament.
In recent years, Sadr has stylized himself as a pioneer against rampant corruption. Although Sadr's allies are also at the highest levels of the ministries, his supporters see him as a guarantor against corruption.
In a statement released by a Sadr loyalist on Sunday, parliamentary occupiers were urged to keep the compound clean, organize unarmed security patrols and maintain the sit-in shifts.
Sadr himself wrote on Twitter that the "spontaneous and peaceful revolution" offers "an extraordinary opportunity for a fundamental change in the political system". He called on "everyone, including our tribes, our security forces and members of the (pro-Iranian) Hashd al-Shaabi to support the revolutionaries."
These remarks have been described by his main Shia political opponents, the pro-Iranian Coordination Framework, as "a call for a coup d'état against the people, the state and its institutions". At the same time, in a statement, they repeated their "call for dialogue with all political forces, especially the Sadrist current".
The EU called for a "constructive political dialogue". A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all sides to "de-escalate the situation".
