BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi police fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in the capital, Baghdad, as demonstrators loyal to influential Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demanded that local elections be held on schedule this year.
Some Iraqi politicians have called for a delay due to the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group, where Iraqi forces are battling to take back the country's second largest city, Mosul.
Al-Sadr has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and last year protests that included many of his followers breached the highly fortified Green Zone twice. On Saturday, al-Sadr issued a statement calling on his followers to refrain from trying to enter the Green Zone. The powerful Shiite cleric is also calling for changes in the members of the country's electoral commission.
Al-Abadi has said that he respects the rights of all Iraqis to peacefully demonstrate, but he called on the protesters Saturday to obey the law and respect public and private property.
The Green Zone is home to most of Iraq's foreign embassies and the seats of Iraq's government.