‘Day of Rage’ for Syrians Fails to Draw Protesters
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05syria.html?_r=0
DAMASCUS, Syria
— In stark contrast to several other Arab capitals, where hundreds of
thousands of people have demonstrated against their governments, a
planned “Day of Rage” in Damascus on Friday failed to attract any
protesters against President Bashar al-Assad, a sign that the opposition
here remains too weak to challenge one of the region’s most entrenched
ruling parties.
Campaigns
on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter called for Syrians
to demonstrate Friday and Saturday in Damascus against the government of
Mr. Assad, who inherited power in 2000 from his father, Hafez, who
himself had ruled the country for nearly three decades with an iron
fist.
But
Damascus was relatively quiet on Friday, save for a gentle rain that
washed its streets. There was a heavy presence of security forces and
police officers in front of Parliament, where the protesters were
planning to stage their demonstration. Men in plain clothes and the
black leather jackets popular among security forces here were scattered
around the area. Others sat waiting in white vehicles.
“Syria
is the last country where regime change will occur,” said a political
activist, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of
retribution, like others interviewed.
“The culture of protesting is not present here. They oppressed it until they killed it,” added another activist.
In Syria, Demonstrations Are Few and Brief
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/middleeast/17syria.html
DAMASCUS,
Syria — For a moment, you might almost have thought you were in Cairo,
or Tunis. Five brave young men stood in this city’s ancient Hamidiya
market and began chanting, “We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Syria!” Soon, a crowd of about 150 had gathered, and the call was heard: “The revolution has started!”
But it had not.
Within
minutes, Syrian security men beat and dispersed the protesters,
arresting several. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, some 200 people
gathered in front of the Interior Ministry building here. They included
relatives of longtime political prisoners as well as activists and
students, and they began calling for the release of those in custody.
Once
again, a large force of armed officers — more numerous than the
protesters — charged the group, and arrested 36 people, witnesses and
human rights activists said. Among those arrested was Hannibal al-Hasan,
the 10-year-old son of Ragda al-Hasan, a political prisoner.
After
three months of uprisings across the Arab world, Syria has seen
scarcely any protests. In a police state where emergency laws have
banned public gatherings since 1963, few dare to challenge the state,
which proved its willingness to massacre its own citizens in the early
1980s. The battles of that time, with armed members of the Muslim
Brotherhood, have cast a long shadow.
Like
those in many other Arab countries, the rulers here are unwilling to
even acknowledge the protests or to confer any legitimacy on them. On
Wednesday, the Syrian Interior Ministry denied that arrests had taken
place, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. The agency
said on its Web site that “some outsiders infiltrated” a group of
families visiting the ministry to present requests for the release of
their sons and “exploited” their gathering “to call for demonstration
through uttering some provocative slogans”
Many
witnesses disputed that account. “I only saw Syrians, families asking
for the release of their loved ones,” said Mazen Darweesh, head of the
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in an interview with
Orient TV, a private Syrian channel run from Dubai.
Abdulaziz
al-Khear, a well-known Syrian dissident and former political prisoner,
said, “With the climate in the region things have got to change or we
are going to witness more of these protests.” But Mr. Khear conceded
that the environment in Syria was more difficult and that the slowing
momentum of protests elsewhere had had an effect. “What is happening in
Libya had discouraged people a bit,” he said, referring to the rebels’
struggle there.
Syrian
protesters created a Facebook page called “The Syrian Revolution 2011,”
calling on people to demonstrate against corruption and repression, and
have gained more than 47,000 supporters.
The
government has repeatedly been ferocious in quelling protests. Security
forces chased and beat young people who gathered for a vigil on Feb. 23
to show solidarity with the Libyan people. They arrested 14
participants, releasing them hours later.
Gatherings
less political in nature have elicited a milder response. On Feb. 16,
more than 500 gathered spontaneously in the Harika district here after a
policeman hit a man in an argument over a minor traffic violation.
Defying the security forces and the police, citizens stayed there more
than three hours.
“The
Syrian people won’t tolerate humiliation,” the crowd chanted. It
dispersed only after Interior Minister Saed Samour showed up and
promised to punish the policeman.
The
potential for protest is complicated by Syria’s ethnic and religious
composition. The country is run by members of the Alawite religious
minority, though the majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. There is
also a restive Kurdish minority centered in the north. Syrians largely
support the government’s foreign policy, including its refusal to sign a
peace treaty with Israel and its support of the militant groups Hamas
and Hezbollah. But the lack of basic freedoms — a key grievance of
protesters in other countries — is as bad in Syria as in Egypt, or
worse, many activists and human rights groups say.
Syrian
state-run television welcomed the fall of the Egyptian government,
calling it “the collapse of the Camp David” peace accords between Egypt
and Israel. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in January, the
Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, expressed confidence in his rule,
which he said represented the people, and dismissed the possibility of
protests.
Most
Syrians seem to have only begun to grasp the concept of public protest.
By contrast, Mr. Khear noted that Egyptians had protested often over
the past five years. Still, he said, “people know what they are entitled
to now, and there is no taking that away.”
Again
and again, Arab leaders have accused those who have risen against them
of being traitors. But the few determined Syrians who showed up on
Wednesday took a different view.
“The
traitor is the one who kills his people,” they shouted. ”The traitor is
the one who oppresses, bankrupts, intimidates, humiliates and imprisons
his people.”
washingtonpost
Reuters
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Rare political protest held in Syria, witnesses say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/15/AR2011031504576.html
الجزيرة
ظاهرة حلب 15-3-2011 بجانب الجامع الكبير
http://sharek.aljazeera.net/node/56866
العربية
الثلاثاء 10 ربيع الثاني 1432هـ - 15 مارس 2011م
مئات السوريين يتظاهرون في قلب دمشق التجاري مطالبين بالإصلاح
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/15/141661.html
bbc 15 March 2011
Mid-East unrest: Syrian protests in Damascus and Aleppo
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12749674
Hundreds of Syrians have staged a
rare protest in the capital, Damascus, calling for democratic reforms
and the release of all political prisoners.
Six protesters were reportedly detained by the security forces, a witness told the BBC Arabic Service. The AP news agency said government supporters later broke up the rally by punching and attacking the protesters.
A Facebook group, The Syrian revolution against [President] Bashar al-Assad 2011, is said to have called the march.
A similar appeal on Facebook last month failed to bring protesters to the streets, but critics blamed a heavy security presence for the failure of that campaign.
aljazeera english
15 3 2011
Protesters stage rare demo in Syria
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/03/20113151834383782.html
Protesters have demonstrated in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in a rare show of dissent against the country's hardline regime.
Witnesses said 40 to 50 people gathered after midday prayers on Tuesday in the Al Hamidiya area near the city's Umayyad Mosque.
A YouTube video showed protesters clapping and chanting "God, Syria, freedom -- that's enough", and "Peaceful, peaceful", a chant heard elsewhere in weeks of protests that have swept through the Arab world.
A voice in the background says: "The date is (March) 15 ... This is the first obvious uprising against the Syrian regime ... Alawite or Sunni, all kinds of Syrians, we want to bring down the regime".
The protest was quickly broken up by government supporters, the AP news agency reported.
Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father as president in 2000, has said there is no chance of unrest elsewhere in the region spreading to Syria. The country has been ruled by al-Assad's Baath Party since 1963.
The regime is considered one of the most repressive in the Middle East with political opposition locked up and media tightly controlled.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Syria's authorities were among the worst violators of human rights in 2010, jailing lawyers, torturing opponents and using violence to repress ethnic Kurds.
Earlier this month the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 13 political prisoners had gone on hunger strike to protest against "political detentions and oppression" in their country.
One of the prisoners, 80-year-old former judge Haitham al-Maleh, was later released under an amnesty marking the anniversary of the 1963 coup which brought the Baath party to power.
Officials say political prisoners in Syria have violated the constitution and that outside criticism of the state's human rights record is interference in Syria's affairs.
voanews
March 15, 2011 8:00 PM
Syrian Security Forces Break Up Damascus Protest
http://www.voanews.com/content/syrian-security-forces-break-up-damascus-protest-118085199/172797.html
Witnesses in the Syrian capital, Damascus, say security forces armed
with batons have dispersed an opposition protest calling for the release
of political prisoners.
The witnesses say Syrian security
personnel moved in to break up Wednesday's rally by about 150 activists
near the Interior Ministry, detaining at least five of them.
Some
of the protesters held signs calling for the release of political
prisoners and greater freedoms in the authoritarian state, led by
President Bashar Assad. He has held the post since 2000, when he
succeeded his late father.
It was the second day that a small
group of opposition activists had gathered in Damascus, trying to join a
wave of uprisings against autocratic rulers in other Arab nations.
Syria's
opposition has been unable to stage large protests in part due to
intensified government intimidation and arrests of dissidents in recent
weeks.
أول مظاهرة ضد الاسد في سوريا 15/3/2011
انطلاق ثورة 15 اذار 2011
http://www.onislam.net/arabic/newsanalysis/special-folders-pages/syria/diary-of-the-revolution/129608--q-15-q-.html
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