Wednesday, March 16, 2011

DAMASCUS: Dozens of Syrians demonstrated in Damascus Tuesday for liberty and political reforms and against corruption, according to witnesses and opposition websites.

“God, Syria, liberty” and “Syrians, where are you?” chanted men and women inviting their compatriots to join the “peaceful march” which unfolded in a central souk of Old City Damascus, according to videos posted online.

Witnesses and a human-rights activist said five young men near the Omayyad mosque started shouting the slogans despite a 1963 emergency law that bans protests in Syria.

The young protesters marched through landmark souks Al-Hamidiyeh and Hariqa, drawing dozens of other Syrians with them. But security forces broke up the group arresting two of its members, witnesses said.

A Facebook page entitled “The Syrian revolution against Bashar Assad 2011,” which has amassed about 42,000 fans, was promoting protests “in all Syrian cities” March 15.
The organizers, who say they are human-rights activists from Syria and Europe with no political affiliation, called for a “revolution until liberty and for justice.”

“Lets call for a Syria free of tyranny, emergency law and special tribunals; a Syria without corruption or theft or monopoly of wealth, exempt from poverty and illiteracy; and for a civil state,” posted the organizers.
The organizers also took pride that the residents of Qamishli, a city in northeast Syria with a Kurdish majority, protested on March 12 against “corruption and injustice.”

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said Tuesday political reforms would be implemented this year. “We will take steps toward introducing political reforms this year,” Mouallem said at a news conference with his Spanish counterpart, Trinidad Jimenez.

He cited a recent interview President Assad gave to The Wall Street Journal in which he outlined “a program of reforms that will begin with [amendments to] laws on municipal and legislative elections.”
“The people of this region are the most qualified to decide their destiny,” said Mouallem who was quoted by the official SANA news agency. – AFP