Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
said Sunday that an anti-government sit-in has become a headquarters for al-Qaeda, and called for protesters to depart before security forces move in.
If security forces move against the site, where Sunni Arab demonstrators have gathered for almost a year, it would likely inflame widespread discontent among the minority community and could add to the already-rampant violence plaguing the country.