Iraqi demonstrators leave Baghdad's Green Zone

Hundreds of protesters who stormed Baghdad's fortified Green Zone on Saturday to demand an end to corruption left Sunday, following an order from the man who sent them there, Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

The influential cleric said he was asking them to leave out of "respect" for a Shiite pilgrimage underway, but vowed they would be back on Friday if their demands weren't met. Al-Sadr has demanded that Parliament meet to approve a capable new cabinet soon or else he will call for the dissolution of the government and early elections. In a statement Sunday, he asked the protesters to leave peacefully, clean up after themselves, and chant for a unified Iraq, not sects. Many of the protesters blamed the United States for the political system in place and its sectarian quotas, The New York Times reports, and in a joint statement, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, and Salim al-Jubouri, the speaker of Parliament, condemned the damage done to the Parliament building and said they will continue to meet to "assure progress in reforming the political process."

The Green Zone is usually off limits to ordinary citizens, and protesters gathered in Celebration Square, once Saddam Hussein's parade grounds, and swam in pools. "I used to hear about the Green Zone and used to ask myself and my friends, 'What does the Green Zone mean?'" Ali Mustafa, 21, told the Times. "Entering the Green Zone was like a dream for me."

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