"The martyrs are our candidates." Hundreds of students flooded Tahrir Square today, a day after seven protesters were killed in #Iraq's holy city of Najaf in a clash with supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr. Sadr split with the rest of the movement over the nomination of 65-year-old Mohammad Allawi as prime minister - a man whom other protesters say was selected by the very ruling class they've been protesting against for four months. Almost every young person in that square knows someone killed since October, and their presence is felt throughout Tahrir: propped up on sidewalks, taped to tents, hung on plastic trees, pictures of the young men who could have been prime minister one day.
Sporting their signature blue caps, the men marched triumphantly through Baghdad's protest camp. The die-hard followers of cleric Moqtada Sadr were back in Tahrir Square, and they wanted everyone to know it.
The influential militiaman-turned-politician has toyed with the future of the anti-government protest movement with a dizzying series of tweets in recent weeks - some of which have divided his supporters. Over the past few days, we've met die-hard Sadrists who said they'd do anything for their commander, as well as young kids from his namesake stronghold who feel lost trying to decipher his Twitter posts. It's an interesting juncture for the populist movement, and we dive into the contradictions in our latest - link in bio.
