Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr told his followers to leave their protests in central Baghdad on Tuesday and apologised to the Iraqi people after nearly two days of violent clashes between rival Shi’ite Muslim groups. 

Iraqi security forces on Tuesday lifted a nation-wide curfew, the state news agency reported after he asked supporters to withdraw. “This is not a revolution (anymore) because it has lost its peaceful character,” Sadr said in a televised address. “The spilling of Iraqi blood is forbidden,” he added.