Al-Sadr supporters break into the Supreme Judicial Council's building

Shafaq News/ The supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council inside the ultra-secure Green Zone downtown the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the protestors surrounded the building and attempted to break in despite the attempts of the security forces to hinder them.

Earlier today, a Sadrist figure urged the supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, to refrain from assaulting the members of the Iraqi judicial body.

"If you want to deliver your demands to the Iraqi judiciary, we do not approve assaulting them," Salih al-Iraqi, who runs a Twitter account named "the leader's advisor", tweeted, "the integrity of the judiciary is our demand. The Independence of the judiciary is our demand."

Since the early hours of Saturday, the proponents of the Sadrist movement have flocked to al-Tahrir square in the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and marched toward the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses the state departments and foreign diplomatic missions.

Later, the protestors breached the barricades surrounding the Green Zone and stormed the building of the Iraqi parliament and other government departments.

The demonstrators, mainly supporters of the Sadrist movement, oppose the candidacy of the rival Shiite Coordination Framework pick for premiership, Mohammad Shiyaa al-Sudani.