Hundreds of angry protesters loyal to the powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr broke into Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone, denouncing the nomination of a new prime minister, writes CNN.

Mohammed Shiya al-Sudani was formally nominated to lead the country on Monday by the Coordination Framework, the largest Shiite alliance in the Iraqi parliament.

His nomination followed the mass resignation of al-Sadr’s parliamentary bloc, a group of over 70 lawmakers who withdrew from the governing body last month in an apparent show of force after months of political stalemate.

Iraq has struggled to form a new government since parliamentary elections in October; Sadr’s own attempts to form a government have previously foundered amid opposition from rival blocs.

“If the Sadrist bloc remaining [in parliament] is an obstacle to government formation, then all lawmakers of the bloc are honorably ready to resign from parliament”, - Sadr said in a televised speech in June.