Cries of joy rose from Tahrir Square in Baghdad in the early afternoon of Friday, November 29th. In the wake of a particularly deadly day in southern Iraq, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi had just announced that he would resign in Parliament. While at least 420 people have died since the start of the dispute, on 1st October, the feeling dominates to have won a battle, but not yet the war against the " diet " whose protesters are calling for the fall.
"It's the beginning of the victory, says Sara, an activist, but that only meets a part of our wishes. We will occupy the places until all our requests are heard and the blood of the martyrs is honored. "
Recalling word by word the sermon addressed during the Friday prayer by Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the highest Shia authority in the country, Adel Abdel Mahdi has conceded a resignation that has become unavoidable. Revered among the Shiite majority from which most of the protesters came, and listened to by the ruling class, the "old sage" of Najaf had just urged Parliament to withdraw his trust to avoid the "Chaos."
The Shiite formations which dominate the Parliament immediately obeyed. The Sairoun coalitions of populist leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, and Fatah led by militia party leader Badr, Hadi Al-Ameri, called for a vote of no confidence against Abdel Mahdi. This 77-year-old independent, without a partisan and popular base, was the compromise candidate on which they had agreed in October 2018, after several months of negotiations under the auspices of the two American and Iranian sponsors.
A new outbreak of violence
When he said he was ready to resign at the end of October, under pressure from the street, they rallied the ranks around him, urged by the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, dispatched to Baghdad. Considered a malleable politician, and flanked by a chief of staff close to General Al-Quds, Abdel Mahdi remained the best guarantor of their interests for these parties and their Iranian godfather. Instead, they considered using force to crush the protest, seen by Tehran as a "Plot" from Washington, before betting on his shortness of breath.
The exhortation of Ayatollah Sistani, claimed in vain by the protesters for weeks, fell like a chopper.
