A state of emergency has been declared in Baghdad after its Green Zone was breached by supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and entered the parliament building on Sunday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said that security has been restored in the city and called on the demonstrators to go back to the "designated protest areas."

Like Us on Facebook

The Green Zone is the location of many government offices in Baghdad.

Prime Minister Al-Abadi threatened to arrest the protesters, sending them to a retreat from the area. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also called for protesters to end their siege of parliament.

The storm-in is the culmination of months of protests across the country that casted a shadow of uncertainty over the current political system. The current regime was put in place by the US-led coalition after it toppled the long-standing command of the late Saddam Hussein.

Muqtada al-Sadr has a history of leading violent protests against US troops during the Iraq war. In a statement issued on Saturday, he declared, "History will record the birth of a new Iraq, from the ashes of corruption and the corrupt."

The protestester condemned the Iraqi parliament's failure to convene for voting to approve new ministers. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi's efforts to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats stalled as MPs failed to form a quorum required for approval.

Following Sadr's news conference in Najaf where he criticized the political deadlock, the unrest began to proliferate. He accused that politicians have "refused to end corruption and refused to end quotas," referring to the system of sharing government posts on the basis of sectarian and political affiliations.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has expressed grave concerns about the situation.

TagsIraq, United Nations, Muqtada Al-Sadr, Haider al-Abadi