THE Iraqi Communist Party has issued a demand for early elections and an end to the “bloody repression and killing of demonstrators” after clashes with security services intensified at the weekend.

It warned of an escalation of repression against mass protests in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and other provinces which led to the killing of at least four people on Saturday.

Clashes intensified after Islamist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his support for the anti-government protests. His supporters had often acted as a barrier between the protesters and police. But many of them left the sit-in camps overnight, leaving those remaining vulnerable to the Iraqi security services.