BAGHDAD — Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told followers Wednesday to continue their sit-in inside Iraq’s government zone, and called for the dissolution of parliament and early elections, signaling a deepening power struggle with his rivals.
Speaking for the first time since thousands of his followers stormed the parliament building in Baghdad on Saturday, al-Sadr said the “revolutionaries” must stay and continue their sit-in. He dismissed the option of engaging in dialogue with his political opponents in the Coordination Framework, an alliance of mostly Iran-backed parties, saying they did not bear fruit in the past.
