Shiite political leaders sent messages to the demonstrators in the vicinity of the Green Zone 

Shafaq News/ Shiite political leaders sent messages to the demonstrators in the vicinity of the Green Zone in central Baghdad

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, said in a tweet, "Peaceful demonstrations for electoral appeals should not turn into demonstrations of violence, just as the state should not resort to violence against peaceful demonstrators. Peaceful demonstration is a right guaranteed by reason, Sharia, and law."

Addressing the demonstrators, he added, "The Popular Mobilization is a mobilization of jihad, and my wish is that their reputation will not be tarnished…the rights of their disciplined members will be defended, and their martyrs against terrorism are a blood of glory and honor, and we will not forget them. So, preserve your history, and the government of the national majority will be defending you, away from internal and external political projects that want to harm you for their partisan and sectarian gains."

For his part, the head of the Al-Fateh Alliance Hadi Al-Amiri commented on the confrontations between the security forces and the demonstrators at the gates of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, saying, "We condemn and denounce in the strongest terms, and we follow with great anger the heinous state of suppression that the government authorities are followed with peaceful demonstrators who object to the theft of their voices and falsification of results."

Al-Amiri called on the judicial authorities to intervene to punish those "who issued orders to shoot live bullets at the demonstrators and to punish all hands that extended and contributed to the death and wounding of peaceful demonstrators."

The Head of Al-Fateh urged the security services to "cooperate with their protesting brothers and not to use weapons against them and to take responsibility for protecting them, calling on the demonstrators to "restraint and maintain their peace, which will inevitably triumph."

For his part, the Secretary-General of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, said, "We strongly condemn the security forces' use of live weapons in the face of peaceful demonstrators."

Al-Khazali called on the demonstrators to display restraint and miss the opportunity for anyone who wants to exploit the events to waste their legitimate rights, asking the security forces to "stand with their people and not be a tool for implementing malicious and illegal orders targeting their fellow demonstrators."

He also warned against "attempts of parties linked to intelligence agencies for planning to attack the Green Zone and lay the blame on the resistance factions."