Iraqi protesters climbed over thick walls to breach the boundaries of the heavily-guarded “Green Zone” in Baghdad Saturday, then stormed into the Iraqi parliament while carrying Iraqi flags and chanting slogans against the government.

The breach was an escalation of a political crisis that has included months of anti-government protests, sit-ins and demonstrations by supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, according to the Associated Press. The Green Zone houses most government ministries and foreign embassies. Sadr’s criticism of the government has focused on zone.