Powerful Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his loyalists in the government zone to withdraw after nearly 24 hours of fierce clashes with security forces and paramilitary groups.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, al-Sadr gave his supporters, hundreds of whom stormed the government palace and have been holding an ongoing sit-in outside the parliament building, an hour to leave.

Supporters of an influential Iraqi Shia cleric fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into Iraq’s Green Zone and security forces returned fire on Tuesday, a serious escalation of a monthslong political crisis gripping the nation.

The death toll rose to at least 30 people after two days of unrest, officials said.

After cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced on Monday he would resign from politics, his supporters stormed the Green Zone, once the stronghold of the US military that’s now home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies.

At least one country evacuated its embassy amid the chaos. Iraq’s government has been deadlocked since al-Sadr’s party won the largest share of seats in October elections but not enough to secure a majority government.