Months of political infighting in Iraq prompt widespread protests and instability

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Iraq has been reeling from unrest after the powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a revolution, taunting his Shia rivals and demanding sweeping changes to the current political system.

  Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad.

• Simona Foltyn:

  After nine months of political deadlock to form a new government, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has taken his fight to the streets.

  On Saturday, his followers stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the American and other embassies and other embassies and many Iraqi government institutions.

  Karrar Mohammed, Follow of Muqtada al-Sadr (through translator): We are ready for any emergency that affects Iraq and the Iraqi people. We are following instructions. Maybe there will be a sit-in. Maybe we will withdraw. No one knows. Our leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, is the decision-maker.

• Simona Foltyn:

  And he decided to flex his populist muscle. The rioters laid siege to Parliament to show their rejection of the post-2003 political order.

• Karrar Mohammed (through translator):

  The Iraqi Parliament is just a succession of corrupt parties, gangs and militias who are looking out for their followers, while the poor are struggling to survive.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Ironically, Sadr has been part of the very system he now wants to upend. The descendant of an influential family of clerics, he first gained notoriety for fighting the American army following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but then transformed his movement into a dominant political force.

  His party won last October's parliamentary election. In a bid to tighten his grip over the state, he broke with the previous custom of sharing power with other Shia parties, but ultimately failed to form a government.

  After months of fruitless negotiations, the mercurial cleric instructed his 73 members of Parliament to resign, thus forfeiting his electoral victory in what some observers called a strategic mistake.

  Now his followers are occupying Parliament and blocking the election of a new president and prime minister. Sadr may have officially withdrawn from the political process, but this protest is a reminder to his Shia rivals that he remains a pivotal figure in Iraqi politics who commands a devout following of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and one of most powerful armed groups.

  On the opposing side is a grouping of Shia parties called the Coordination Framework. On Monday, it's supporters staged a counterprotest just a few hundred yards away from Parliament, with security forces forming a buffer zone between the two sides.

  The framework includes Iran-aligned parties and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been Sadr's arch-enemy ever since he launched a battle against Sadr's militia in 2008.

  The trigger for the Sadrists' insurrection was the Framework's impending nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister. Sudani served in Maliki's government, an unacceptable affiliation for the Sadrists.

  Muslim Obaid, Follower of Muqtada al-Sadr (through translator): He is rejected. It's the corrupt ones who chose him, not the people. He has been part of this political system.

• Simona Foltyn:

  I ask him what he thinks about the Coordination Framework.

• Muslim Obaid (through translator):

  They don't represent the Shia and they don't represent the Iraqi people. They represent only themselves.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who rose to power with Sadr's backing, asked security forces to protect the crowds and appealed for calm.

• Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Iraqi Prime Minister (through translator):

  We must all cooperate to stop those who accelerate this sedition, and everyone must know very well that the fire of sedition will burn everyone.

• Simona Foltyn:

  The Framework's leadership has called for dialogue, which could pave the way for a compromise that would leave Kadhimi in office for another term.

  But with both sides armed to the teeth, there's fear that the tiniest spark could ignite violence.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Simona Foltyn in Baghdad.

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