Allawi, Sadr support right to peaceful protests

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: Iraqiya Bloc Leader Iyad Allawi met on Thursday with Shiite Leader Muqtada al-Sadr in the city of Najaf to discuss political developments and mass protests that gripped Iraq against bad services. Allawi and Sadr, during a press conference after their meeting at Sadr’s house in Lahnana neighborhood in Najaf, co-stressed the right to peaceful protests demanding better services and living conditions. “No one absolutely objected the mass popular marches calling for better services,” said Sadr, who leads al-Ahrar Bloc, part of the National Alliance coalition that has 40 out of the total 325 seats in the Iraqi parliament. “The Sadrist Movement will take whatever measures necessary in line with the current plebiscite if the government failed to meet the protesters’ demands during the set deadline,” he added. Baghdad and 15 Iraqi provinces had been gripped on Feb. 25 by mass demonstrations calling for “better services and end to corruption.” Violence that erupted during the protests left dozens demonstrators and security men wounded. For his part, Allawi said his meeting with Sadr aimed to “find ways to work hard to push forward the political process that guarantee achieving the objectives of the Iraqi people.” Allawi said his bloc backs peaceful protests that call for better services and living conditions as well as political reforms. “These demands by all Iraqi people are legitimate,” he added. AmR (TS) 1412