4-10-2019

For the fourth consecutive day, crowds in Baghdad and many other provinces and cities took to the streets, continuing their legitimate protest movement and confronting live bullets and other forms of excessive violence that led to the death of dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded among demonstrators and security forces.

Reaffirming our support for this peaceful mass uprising and our support for the legitimate demands of the protesters, we stress at the same time the need for halting the violence against them.

In this context, and in response to the demands of the protesters, we believe that the time has come to move towards the option of forming a government with exceptional powers, that includes figures known for their patriotism, competence and integrity, and away from the abhorrent power-sharing quota approach. This government should address, as soon as it assumes power, the urgent and  pressing tasks, including:

- To declare the victims of the protests as martyrs of the people and release all the detainees among the demonstrators.

- To maintain and provide security and take effective measures to put arms exclusively under the control of the state.

- To begin serious and concrete measures to combat corruption, and to bring those accused of it on all levels, especially the most corrupt, to justice.

- To begin a major campaign to build decent economic houses and distribute them to the poor and all those who do not have homes for their families.

- To form the Public Service Council and entrust it all the appointments in the state, to ensure fair access to job opportunities for all the citizens.

- To allocate monthly salaries to poor citizens and unemployed youth, saving them from want and misery.

- To abolish unjustified ‘special grades’.

- To reduce the salaries of the three presidencies (the President, PM and Speaker of Parliament), ministers, members of Parliament and ‘special grades’ by at least 50%, and abolishing all unjustified privileges and allocations.

- To adopt an immediate and rapid program to promote the productive sectors, which would provide job opportunities.

These and other urgent measures can reassure the inflamed Iraqi society and meet people's legitimate and urgent demands.

In order to achieve this, the pace and momentum of the protest movement must be increased, along with a commitment to maintain its peacefulness.

We renew our position in support of the just and legitimate demands of the masses of our people, and participation in its continuing movement.

Glory to the martyrs and speedy recovery to the wounded

Glory to our Iraqi people

Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party