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Twelve killed in pro-democracy protests in Syria
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Twelve killed in pro-democracy protests in Syria
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By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Suleiman al-Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed at least 12 people on Saturday when they fired on mourners calling for the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule at mass funerals of pro-democracy protesters...
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A still image taken from an amateur video on April 22, 2011 shows protesters holding a large Syrian flag during a demonstration in Deraa.
Credit: Reuters/Amateur video via Reuters TV
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Suleiman al-Khalidi
AMMAN |
Sat Apr 23, 2011 2:05pm EDT
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed at least 12 people on Saturday when they fired on mourners calling for the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule at mass funerals of pro-democracy protesters shot a day earlier.
Witnesses said the mourners were chanting "Bashar al-Assad, you traitor! Long live Syria, down with Bashar!"
"There was a heavy volley of gunfire in our direction as we approached Izra'a to join the funerals of martyrs," a witness in the southern town of Izra'a told Reuters.
Independent human rights organization Sawasiah said security forces killed at least 12 people during protesters' funerals in Damascus and surrounding areas and near Izra'a.
Two Syrian lawmakers, both from the southern city of Deraa, told al-Jazeera television they were resigning in protest at the killing of demonstrators. They were the first resignations from within Assad's autocratic rule.
The government-appointed mufti, or Muslim preacher, for Deraa also resigned. "Being assigned to give fatwas (religious edicts), I submit my resignation as a result of the fall of victims and martyrs by police fire," Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid told al-Jazeera.
Security forces also opened fire at a funeral in Damascus's Douma suburb, wounding three people, witnesses there said.
Mourners in Harasta, a town near Damascus, also came under fire from security forces, before staging a sit-in to demand the release of detainees arrested in the last few weeks.
Protesters staged another sit-in after a funeral for four people from Irbeen, near Damascus. "We are not leaving until the political prisoners are released," one protester said by phone.
Friday was by far the bloodiest day in over a month of demonstrations to demand political freedoms and an end to corruption, with at least 100 people killed, said two activists.
Friday's violence, in areas stretching from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama, Damascus and the southern village of Izra'a, brings the death toll to more than 300, according to activists, since unrest broke out on March 18 in Deraa.
Damascus remained tense on Saturday and many people stayed indoors, one activist told Reuters from the capital. "This is becoming like a snowball and getting bigger and bigger every week. Anger is rising, the street is boiling," he said.
CRACKDOWN CONDEMNED
President Barack Obama condemned Friday's violence and accused Assad of seeking help from Iran. A Syrian government source said in a statement published on official state media Obama's statement "was not based on objective vision."
"This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now," Obama said in a statement. "Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens."
France's Foreign Ministry said Paris was "deeply concerned."
"Syrian authorities must give up the use of violence against their citizens. We again call on them to commit without delay to an inclusive political dialogue and to achieve the reforms legitimately demanded by the Syrian people," it said.
Friday's protests went ahead despite Assad's decision this week to lift emergency law, in place since his Baath Party seized power 48 years ago.
A statement by the Local Coordination Committees, a grouping of activists coordinating protests, said the end of emergency law was futile without the release of thousands of political prisoners, most held without trial, and the dismantling of the security apparatus.
In their first joint statement since the protests erupted last month, activists said the abolition of the Baath Party's monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system was central to ending repression in Syria.
Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, president Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
Amnesty International said Syrian authorities "have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons."
"They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and instead allow Syrians to gather freely as international law demands," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa director.
(Writing and Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
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We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Comments (8)
Bloomy wrote:
Syria is a very unique situation. I think Assad would be the best person to be the leader of that country because he is able from keeping the country from descending into religious fundamentalism, while maintaining a good rule overall.
Apr 22, 2011 8:38pm EDT -- Report as abuse
Pro7 wrote:
As an early and continuing visitor to the Communist Soviet Union, I observed a police state in action and the fear of its citizens, and now see the same fears among the despotic holders of power in one-party (so like the Communist Party in the USSR) mid-eastern states. Eventually the USSR folded when it became hopelessly economically out-classed by freer societies; so the same is true and will become even more pervasive in nations surpressing peoples best energies with the might of secretive police systems.
Apr 22, 2011 9:18pm EDT -- Report as abuse
dkbaz wrote:
Obama needs to bomb this country too. It would be for humanitarian reasons of course.
Apr 23, 2011 2:35am EDT -- Report as abuse
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