Iraq
Muqtada al-Sadr supporters hold pro-Palestine "million-man" protests in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on October 13, 2023. Photo: Anmar Khalil/AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday called on Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon to allow his supporters to hold “peaceful” million-man demonstrations, along their borders with Israel, in protest of Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.
The cleric also called on the states bordering Israel to allow Sadrist loyalists to deliver food, water, medicine, and fuel into the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We also hope you allow your Sadrist brothers to hold peaceful and humanitarian million-man strikes on the Palestinian borders with your beloved countries in the upcoming days, and anyone else from the Arab, Muslim, and humanitarian nations that would like to join [the protests],” said Sadr in a statement.
Sadr first called for sit-in protests on the borders with Israel on October 19. Thousands of his supporters were transported to Iraq’s border with Jordan the following day.
The Shiite leader pledged that the protesters will abide by the countries’ laws and systems.
Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters gathered at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for “million-man” protests in mid-October, in a mass display of solidarity with the Palestinian people in the wake of the escalation of violence in Gaza.
“Million-man” protests is a signature of Sadr and his supporters, honoring a tradition of Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, Sadr’s late father, who united masses of Shiites in Friday prayer, as a sign of opposition to the rule of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
After the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement launched a surprise attack against Israel on October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to turn all Hamas-associated locations into “islands of ruins,” and called on the residents of Gaza to evacuate before Israel intensifies its operations.
Israel cut off the supply of food, water, and electricity to the Gaza Strip on October 9.
Over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli offensives in under a month of the most recent chapter in the saga of the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
The cleric also called on the states bordering Israel to allow Sadrist loyalists to deliver food, water, medicine, and fuel into the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We also hope you allow your Sadrist brothers to hold peaceful and humanitarian million-man strikes on the Palestinian borders with your beloved countries in the upcoming days, and anyone else from the Arab, Muslim, and humanitarian nations that would like to join [the protests],” said Sadr in a statement.
Sadr first called for sit-in protests on the borders with Israel on October 19. Thousands of his supporters were transported to Iraq’s border with Jordan the following day.
The Shiite leader pledged that the protesters will abide by the countries’ laws and systems.
Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters gathered at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for “million-man” protests in mid-October, in a mass display of solidarity with the Palestinian people in the wake of the escalation of violence in Gaza.
“Million-man” protests is a signature of Sadr and his supporters, honoring a tradition of Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, Sadr’s late father, who united masses of Shiites in Friday prayer, as a sign of opposition to the rule of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
After the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement launched a surprise attack against Israel on October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to turn all Hamas-associated locations into “islands of ruins,” and called on the residents of Gaza to evacuate before Israel intensifies its operations.
Israel cut off the supply of food, water, and electricity to the Gaza Strip on October 9.
Over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli offensives in under a month of the most recent chapter in the saga of the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
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