Syrian protesters chant "Bye Gaddafi, Bashar next"

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters Africa

Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:03pm GMT

By Khaled Oweis

AMMAN - Syrian protesters chanted "Bye, bye Gaddafi, Bashar your turn is coming" overnight, but President Bashar al-Assad showed few signs of cracking after months of demonstrations and his forces raided an eastern tribal region again on Thursday.

The new chant, inspired by the apparent collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's rule in Libya, was filmed by residents in the Damascus suburb of Duma after prayers on Wednesday.

But in eastern Syria, tanks and armoured vehicles entered Shuhail, a town southeast of the provincial capital of Deir al-Zor, where daily protests have taken place against Assad's rule since the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, they said.

"Initial reports by residents describe tens of tanks firing randomly as they stormed the town at dawn. Shuhail has been very active in protests and the regime is using overwhelming force to frighten the people," a local activist said.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE76S3YW20110825?sp=true

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But... But... Hugo Said...

[Tx4obama]

1. K&R n/t

[Fearless]

4. EDIT: Wrong place.

[Fearless]

2. Good for them!

[Arctic Dave]

3. So they are saying they are planning on a violent coup?

Seems that would be enough to have any government in the world crack down hard on them, including the US. Incredibly stupid on their part. Now all he has to do is play that on a tapeloop for him to say that tough measures were needed.

[Turborama]

5. No, they did not say that. In fact, the only reports of violence relate to Assad's brutal crackdown

From the end of the article in the OP...

Human Rights Watch said in a new report the vast majority of civilian deaths documented by Syrian human rights groups "have occurred in circumstances in which there was no threat to Syrian forces."

"President al-Assad has said he is pursuing a battle against 'terrorist groups' and 'armed gangs,' and Syrian authorities have claimed that they have 'exercised maximum restraint while trying to control the situation'. Neither claim is true," the report said.

It said Syrian forces had killed at least 49 people since Assad told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on August 17 military and police operations had stopped, adding that on August 22 in Homs, Syrian forces "fired on a crowd of peaceful protesters shortly after a U.N. humanitarian assessment team left the area, killing four."

[Arctic Dave]

6. Uhh, yes they did.

That is exactly what they said. Try doing that in the US aqnd see what kind of toys they unleash on you.

These people are morons.

[Turborama]

7. No they didn't. Quote of them saying "they are planning on a violent coup", please.

Hint, they said they want Assad gone next and it's his turn to be a deposed dictator, but they didn't say how.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabatha]

10. I'd like to see what you would do under those circumstances.

You are highly judgmental.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jzodda]

11. Where have you been?

They (the Syrian security forces) have already unleashed war on the people. They have shot them with guns, shelled cities, bombed them and arrested tens of thousands if not more since we don't even have a complete picture.

How much worse can it get for the people there? Are you suggesting they should not fight back?

[Arctic Dave]

13. Like I posted before, try telling Obama he is no longer president while refusing

to leave after the police tell you. See what nice things they do to you.

[pampango]

14. There have been protests against Obama's legitimacy since the start (see tea party).

So far he has resisted the temptation to call in the tanks and artillery to clear out those pesky teabaggers.

As you also may have noted, one big reason the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt succeeded was that their militaries did not fire on protesters (at least not in the massive way that Syria's military has). Those protesters did not have "nice things" done to them. Obama didn't do it. It didn't happen in Egypt and Tunisia, so there is nothing inevitable about large scale military crackdowns on protesters, even those who question the legitimacy of the president.

Do you always give repressive governments the benefit of the doubt - China in Tienamen Square, Burma in 2007, Mubarak and Ben Ali in 2011 - when it comes to confronting protesters with military force or is Assad a special case?

[Arctic Dave]

15. Getting fifty senior citizen teabaggers with proper "permits" issued by authority

and showing up and leaving on schedule is hardly a equal. How about Seattle, LA, Penn. State? How did the authorities treat them when they assembled without permit and refused to leave?

[jzodda]

17. Those incidents are nothing compared to Syria

Its a false equivalence. The responses to those incidents you mention were on a magnitude less then what the Syrian regime is already doing. They have already instituted a full military crackdown. We have not seen such violence here since our own civil war ended in 1865. The closest comparison here was the 1863 riots in New York City popularized by the movie Gangs of New York or the destruction of Atlanta by Sherman (which was worse-but that was total war)

No army here has attacked a US city since the end of the civil war. No riots, even the worst of the 1960s can compare to whats going on there now. The people of Syria have little left to lose.

[Arctic Dave]

18. And that is what I am saying. Look what the response to the riots for insignificant reasons.

What do think the response would be to trying to oust the government? Another civil war? Maybe. Harsh government crackdown, you bet. Like I've said, I am not debating personality, I'm debating policy.

[jzodda]

22. So what do you think the people there should be doing?

Do you think they should stand down or do what?

[pampango]

19. Juan Cole's myth #3 about Libya-It's only natural that Gaddafi used him military against protesters.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/top-ten-myths-about-the-libya-war.html

3. It was only natural that Qaddafi sent his military against the protesters and revolutionaries; any country would have done the same. No, it wouldn’t, and this is the argument of a moral cretin. In fact, the Tunisian officer corps refused to fire on Tunisian crowds for dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the Egyptian officer corps refused to fire on Egyptian crowds for Hosni Mubarak. The willingness of the Libyan officer corps to visit macabre violence on protesting crowds derived from the centrality of the Qaddafi sons and cronies at the top of the military hierarchy and from the lack of connection between the people and the professional soldiers and mercenaries. Deploying the military against non-combatants was a war crime, and doing so in a widespread and systematic way was a crime against humanity. Qaddafi and his sons will be tried for this crime, which is not “perfectly natural.”

[Arctic Dave]

21. I guess all those dead protesters in Tunisia and Eygypt are lying. nt

[tabasco]

24. So says the brave keyboard commando in the US

about people risking their lives fighting tyranny.

[pinboy3niner]

8. K&R

(I've been juggling like crazy and haven't had a chance to reply in the other thread yet.)

:hi:

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scurrilous]

20. K & R

:thumbsup:

[pampango]

23. NYT: Syrians to Assad: Heed the Lesson of Qaddafi’s Demise

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/world/middleeast/27syria.html?_r=1&partner

It was yet another show of defiance in Syria against the government of Mr. Assad, who has never hesitated to use deadly force to suppress the five-month-old uprising that has threatened his grip on power. The rebellion in Libya that sent Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi fleeing from his fortified enclave in Tripoli — broadcast around the world via Arab and Western video broadcasts and Internet postings — seemed to give the Syrian protesters fresh enthusiasm.

“Qaddafi is gone, it is your turn Bashar!,” demonstrators screamed, according to accounts relayed from Syria, which has banned most foreign news organizations from reporting inside the country. Others shouted, “Bye bye Qaddafi, Bashar is next!,” and “Bashar, we don’t love you, even if you turn night into day!”

The Friday demonstrations, the last in the monthlong Ramadan Muslim holy period, came as Russia and China, Syria’s allies, foiled a proposal by the United States and European nations to impose Security Council sanctions on Mr. Assad’s government for its crackdown.

But in a sign of Mr. Assad’s growing isolation elsewhere, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group in Lebanon that has been one of his strongest allies, called on Syria to introduce reforms and said that the unrest there would have major implications on the region if not solved peacefully.