AhlulBayt News Agency - Hundreds of supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have stormed Baghdad's Green Zone and some entered the Iraqi parliament building after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government, witnesses told Reuters.
The protesters, who had gathered outside the heavily fortified district housing government buildings and foreign embassies, crossed a bridge over the Tigris River on Saturday chanting, "The cowards ran away!" in apparent reference to lawmakers leaving parliament, one of the witnesses said.
The parliament has been in disarray over the last month as politicians have failed to agree on a cabinet reshuffle propsed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Earleir this week parliament approved a partial reshuffle, bowing to mounting public pressure for reform.
Sadr has led mass protests in support of Abadi's planned reshuffle, which would hand key portfolios to independent technocrats in a bid to root out patronage and corruption.
Thousands of followers of the influential cleric have been holding a sit-in in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square.
