THOUSANDS celebrated the second anniversary of the October uprising in Iraq today, with communists leading mass protests demanding political change.

Organised under the slogan “we want a homeland,” today’s action comes ahead of the Iraqi general election, which the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) is campaigning to boycott.

It says the vote lacks legitimacy, deriding the current administration as corrupt, with the election taking place while violent attacks and executions of peaceful protesters continue with impunity for the perpetrators.