At nightfall, Saturday 1st February, a hundred protesters parade around Tahrir Square, the epicenter of anti-power protest in Baghdad, waving Iraqi flags and portraits of the new prime minister, streaked in red. " (Mohamed Taoufik) Alaoui refused, chant the young men in chorus. Get out, the people don't want you! " The 65-year-old former telecommunications minister has announced in a social media video that he has been appointed by President Barham Salih to form the new government after an agreement between the ruling Shia groups.
His first words were a helping hand to the protesters. "I ask you to continue the protests, because if you are not with me, I will be alone and there is nothing I can do", he called in this video, promising them: "Now I work for you. " However, from Baghdad to the protest homes of southern Shia, the rejection is unanimous. "It is linked to parties (in power), we don't want him ", Judge Abdallah, a 29-year-old worker, who has been camping on Tahrir Square since October 25. " (The Shia populist leader) Moqtada Al-Sadr proposed his name without taking our opinion into account and without any respect for the blood shed by the martyrs ”, abounds with his comrade Montazar, a student accountant of 23 years, determined to continue the mobilization " until death ".
One objective: the "fall of the regime"
Since the movement began in October, protesters have not given up. They claim the "Fall of the regime" established after the American occupation of 2003, and dominated by the Shiite parties, as well as the renewal of the political class, judged incompetent and corrupt. With two visits to the telecommunications ministry (2006-2007 and 2010-2012), Mohamed Taoufik Allaoui is not acceptable to them, even if he had then resigned to protest against the inaction of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki faced to corruption. His appointment as prime minister after an agreement ripped off after long negotiations between the two largest Shiite parties in Parliament – the Sairoun coalitions of Moqtada Al-Sadr and Al-Fatah of the leaders of the armed factions of popular mobilization -, condemns him more.
Ignoring the rejection of the protesters, Moqtada Al-Sadr welcomed a "People's decision" and one "Not positive" to get out of the political crisis in which the country is plunged since the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, on November 29, under pressure from the street. Two hours before the announcement of Mr. Allaoui’s appointment, the big arms of the militia Saraya Al-Salam ("Peace Brigade") of Moqtada Al-Sadr had flocked by hundreds to Tahrir Square. The patibular mine, identified by their blue cap, dozens of them invaded "The Turkish restaurant", the dungeon of the protesters. Armed with baseball bats and metal tubes, the militiamen drove out the last occupants. Under the eyes of hundreds of protesters, dumbfounded, they took down the banners of demands, threw down the mattresses and blankets and took up positions in the building.