Parliament Members and Haider Al-Abadi

Hoshiar Abdullah: Biden makes surprise Iraq visit Inside the Parliament building, they waved Iraqi flags, ransacked rooms, chanted, gestured for cameras and sat at lawmakers' desks. "The cowards ran away," they chanted, referring to Parliament members who'd gathered there earlier, according to CNN. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had been scheduled to announce a new cabinet on Saturday but didn't because of lack of a quorum. Hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters walked and ran freely around the Green Zone, a normally off-limits area housing government buildings and foreign embassies, according to images broadcast on state-run news channel Al-Iraqiya. Read More No large-scale violence has been reported, although Hoshiar Abdullah, a Kurdish member of Parliament, told Kurdish television network Rudaw that the deputy speaker and five other Kurdish lawmakers were trapped inside the building and had been attacked by protesters who also smashed their cars. Protesters retire to Celebration Square Iraqi security forces later took control of the Green Zone, Saad Maan, the spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command, told Al-Iraqiya. Iraqi security forces used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse protesters who tried to break into the Green Zone from the southern gate, the entrance closest to the U.S. Embassy. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.