Protesters storm Iraq parliament for second time in week

Iraq’s parliament has been occupied by thousands of followers of an influential cleric, seeking to block efforts by rival groups to form a government.

Iraqi security services gave up on efforts to repel the demonstrators who were left to declare an open-ended sit-in, but also leaving the country in political paralysis.

We spoke to Hamzeh Hadad, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and began by asking him who these people are and why they’re protesting.