Tuesday, March 29, 2011

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces fired into the air Monday to disperse a pro-democracy protest in the southern flashpoint city of Daraa and Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said President Bashar Assad would give an important speech in the next two days.
Assad, who faced down the most serious threat to his rule, has received strong Arab backing, the latest from Saudi King Abdullah Monday.

Crowds converged on Daraa’s main square Monday chanting “We want dignity and freedom” and “No to emergency laws.”
Security forces fired sustained bursts into the air for several minutes in the direction of demonstrators, but the protesters returned once firing stopped, residents said. It was not immediately clear if there had been casualties.
Syrian television denied troops had fire on the demonstrators.

Monday’s protest was near the judicial palace just over a 2 kilometers away from the old city center, where up to 1,200 people are still holding a sit-in Al-Omari Mosque – the epicenter of the protests in Daraa.
More than 60 people have been killed so far in the crackdown in Daraa, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Protests spread to least six locations around the country – including the capital, Damascus, and the country’s main port of Latakia. The government of Assad, who is now under domestic pressure unprecedented in his 11-year rule, has announced a string of reforms in a bid to quell a rising wave of dissent against his rule.
Shara, speaking to Lebanese Al-Manar television, said Assad would make an important national address in the next two days that would “reassure the people.”

But diplomats were not sure how the British-educated eye doctor would react to the crisis. “I think he is not decided on whether to go on television and try to defuse the situation or choose an even more brutal crackdown route,” a senior diplomat in Damascus said. “I do not see Assad scrapping emergency law without replacing it with something just as bad.”
President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser said Monday the United States expected the Syrian government to respect the rights of Syrians to demonstrate peacefully.
Saudi King Abdullah expressed the kingdom’s support to Syria “in the face of conspiracy which targets its security and stability” in a telephone call with Assad. The Syrian president received similar calls Sunday from the king of Bahrain, the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar and the president of Iraq.
Assad, 45, faces calls to lift emergency laws that have been used since 1963 to stifle political opposition, justify arbitrary arrest and give free rein to a pervasive security apparatus.
The protesters want political prisoners freed, and clarity on the fate of tens of thousands of dissidents who disappeared in the 1980s.

Daraa residents said the army and secret police had brought reinforcements to the city Monday. Police had been making arrests and 20 state security buses were parked on the town’s main bridge.
“[Security forces] are pointing their machine guns at any gatherings of people in the area near the mosque,” said a trader. The Omari Mosque has been a focal point of protest.

Abu Tamam, a resident whose house overlooks the mosque, said soldiers and state security forces were crowded together outside the mosque. Another resident said snipers had been positioned on key buildings.

“No one dares to move,” he said before Monday’s demonstration began.

In Latakia, funerals for a number of the victims of deadly shootings were held Monday as calm returned to the city, residents said, reached by telephone.
Assad deployed the army in Latakia Sunday, signaling government alarm about the ability of state security forces to keep order there.

The city has a fortress-like secret police headquarters and a potentially volatile mix of Sunnis, Christians and Alawites. A leading opposition figure said Monday that Sunni and Alawite leaders had met to try to curb sectarian violence.
“The situation appears calm today after religious and civil society figures intervened. I was told buses are running and businesses have re-opened in the main university district of Latakia,” Aref Dalila told Reuters by telephone from Damascus.

After the Latakia violence, a senior aide to Assad said Syria was the target of a project to sow sectarian strife.
“It is easy to play the sectarian card in these circumstances,” said Dalila, once a dean of economics at Damascus University and a former political prisoner.

“I hope the regime will choose an exit from this crisis that will spare Syria more bloodshed,” Dalila said.
The government says its forces have opened fire only when “armed elements” have threatened national security. An official statement said 12 people were killed in Latakia at the weekend.
Human Rights Watch called on the government “to hold to account those responsible for any unlawful shooting on demonstrators.” – Agencies

Syria releases Lebanese reuters journalists

BEIRUT: Two Reuters journalists were released by Syrian authorities Monday, two days after they were detained in Damascus.
Television producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji returned to their home base in Lebanon and said they were well.

“Reuters is concerned that its journalists were detained and held incommunicado for so long. We are delighted by their release and look forward to welcoming Ayat and Ezzat back,” said Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler.
“We would like to thank everyone who helped us resolve the issue.”
Basma and Baltaji, both Beirut-based Lebanese nationals, traveled to Syria Thursday.

A Syrian official said the journalists were detained and questioned because they did not have a permit to work in Syria and had filmed “in an area where filming is not permitted.”
They had last contacted colleagues on Saturday evening and their whereabouts had been unclear until shortly before they were released Monday.

Basma, who has also reported from Tunisia, Egypt and Iraq, has been with Reuters since February 2007. Baltaji has worked for the company since April 2008. – Reuters