Threat of protests and violent escalation stirs panic in Iraq

Iraqi protesters, mostly followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, fill the parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 31, 2022. [AP]

Iraqi security forces erected concrete barriers Monday ahead of counter-protests planned by Shiite political rivals against an influential cleric whose followers have staged a parliament sit-in for the third day.

Many feared that duelling protests could escalate tensions.