Syria: Thousands call for more freedom after president's promises

Published on Sunday 17 April 2011 17:43

Thousands of Syrians chanted slogans calling for greater freedom at Independence Day rallies yesterday, witnesses said, a day after President Bashar al-Assad promised to lift emergency law.

"The people want freedom," several hundred people shouted at the grave of independence leader Ibrahim Hananu in Syria's second city Aleppo, which has been mostly free of pro-democracy protests that erupted more than a month ago in the south.

Hundreds also turned out in the southern city of Suweida, in the heart of the country's Druze heartland. They chanted "God, Syria, freedom, that's all," before coming under attack from Assad loyalists.

"They came at us with sticks and also hit us with the pictures they were carrying of Bashar - the same president who was talking about freedom yesterday," said a witness.

The demonstrations, which rights campaigners said included a march by about 1,500 people in the city of Banias, were held on the day Syria marked the anniversary of the departure of French soldiers 65 years ago.

Mr Assad said on Saturday legislation to replace emergency law, in place for almost 50 years, should be ready by next week.

But he did not address protesters' demands to curb Syria's pervasive security apparatus and dismantle its authoritarian system. Freedom groups say more than 200 people have been killed since demonstrations erupted in Deraa on 18 March in protest against the arrest of youths who had scrawled graffiti inspired by the uprisings in North Africa.

Witnesses said thousands gathered in Deraa after noon prayers on Sunday, chanting for "the downfall of the regime".

The scene would have been unthinkable in Syria just a month ago, but residents said the mood was festive and there was little sign of security forces in the streets. The unprecedented unrest has spread across the tightly controlled state, posing the sternest challenge yet to Mr Assad, who assumed the presidency in 2000 when his father, Hafez al-Assad, died after 30 years in power.

But the head of Germany's intelligence service was quoted yesterday as saying the Assad dynasty's history of crushing dissent meant a North Africa-style uprising was unlikely.

"Remember that the father of the current president a few decades back murdered as many as 30,000 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama," Ernst Uhrlau told Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, referring to Hafez al-Assad's crushing of an uprising in 1982.

Syrian opposition figures said Mr Assad's pledge to replace emergency law with other legislation was likely only to preserve tough restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly in the country, under Baath Party rule since 1963.

Emergency law bans public gatherings of more than five people and served to throttle any public dissent until Syrians began taking to the streets, emboldened by the popular uprisings that removed autocratic leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

In a speech to his new cabinet broadcast on Saturday, Mr Assad drew a line between what he called "demands for reform and intentions to create chaos and sabotage".

"We will not be lenient toward sabotage," Mr Assad said. Syrian authorities have blamed "infiltrators" for stirring up unrest at the behest of outside players, including Lebanon and Islamist groups.

State news agency Sana said yesterday that a "large quantity" of weapons, including automatic rifles, sniper rifles and pistols, had been seized at the Tanaf border crossing with Iraq.

Arms shipments also were discovered recently at crossings with Turkey and Lebanon, it added.