Nasiriyah and Najaf in southern Iraq became a bloodbath last night, Nov. 28, as 29 protesters were killed in Nasiriyah and 16 others in Najaf. Another four were killed in Baghdad protests the same day.

A great number of unidentified forces in Najaf attacked protesters with live bullets, knives and batons while security forces targeted protesters directly in Nasiriyah a day after protesters burned the Iranian Consulate in Najaf.

Following the bloodshed, top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani called upon the government to accelerate the legal process for dismissing the government and organizing early elections.

“Given the difficult circumstances the country is going through and the clear failure of the authorities in dealing with the last two months' developments, the parliament that formed the current government is invited to reconsider its options and act in the interest of Iraq,” Sistani's representative Sayyed Ahmad Safi said during the Nov. 29 Friday prayer. He went on, “The parliament is invited to accelerate the preparation of the new electoral legislation package in a way that satisfies the people and then hold free and fair elections whose results sincerely reflect the will of the Iraqi people.”