Syria: Thousands protest in restive city of Hama

[pampango]

Source: BBC

Hundreds of thousands of people are attending an anti-government protest in the Syrian city of Hama, activists say. Organisers have called on demonstrators to express their total rejection of the government's decision to hold a national dialogue conference on Sunday.

Tanks were deployed on the outskirts of Hama last weekend after the central city witnessed the largest protest since anti-government demonstrations began in March. At least 22 people in Hama have since been shot dead by security forces.

Rami Abdul Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP news agency as many as 450,000 people were taking part. One person told BBC Arabic that thousands of people from nearby villages had been prevented by security forces from entering Hama and joining the march.

A witness told the Associated Press that many protesters were carrying olive branches and chanting: "We only kneel to God". "There was no violence. As long as we have no security forces, we have no violence," another said.




Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14083087

[pinboy3niner]

1. It looks like the violence now is shifting to other cities

The Guardian's blog reports:

Nadim Houry, Syria researcher for Human Rights Watch urges people to switch attention from Hama to Damascus and Homs.

Focus less on #Hama and more on Qaboon, Meedan, Homs. Security forces shooting on protesters.

This clip appears to show shooting in Damascus today.

And this video shows slow motion footage of a security officer shooting protesters with a pistol in the centre of Damascus during a chase.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jul/08/syria-egypt-yemen-middle-east-unrest-live#block-27

[David__77]

2. Without any intervention in the works, I wonder how it will turn out.

I suspect that the Baathist state will ride it out. Certain external forces, while nominally against the Syrian government, certainly do not want it to collapse.

[pampango]

3. You're probably right. Without military defections (which seem minor up to now) it's hard

to see how civilians overthrow him. I think Syrians may be stuck with him. Too bad the world can't come up with a way to deal with dictators who have obedient armies to keep them in power.

I hope Mubarak and Ben Ali are having a lot of sleepless nights wishing they had made sure their armies would not refrain from attacking civilians as has happened elsewhere.

[David__77]

5. Tunisia and Egypt very different.

There was zero ideological basis for the Tunisian or Egyptian states - they were entirely based on a narrow interest pragmatism. While it is corrupt to be sure, the Syrian state has a strong faction of Baathist believers that know they have know future in another setup. If anything, the Syrian military is more "hard-line" than the civilian authorities, and Bashar in particular. If he tried anything, he'd be under house arrest rather quickly. The state also has cobbled together a coalition of lukewarm supporters among secular-minded people, including the "left."

[Johnny Harpo]

4. Not So Restive Any More...n/t

[Turborama]

6. 'Half a million' protest on streets of Hama

Reports of biggest crowd in Syria so far in city at heart of opposition, as activists say 13 dead across country.
Last Modified: July 08 2011 20:06

More than 500,000 Syrians flooded through the city of Hama on Friday, according to activists, in what they claim was the single biggest protest yet against the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The opposition reported 13 protesters killed, including five deaths in the central city of Homs, two in the capital's commercial neighbourhood Midan and six in the Dumair area, east of Damascus.

Syrian state-run TV said the deaths in Damascus and Homs were caused by snipers from "armed gangs".

An activist told Al Jazeera that Hama, where marchers were seen carrying olive branches, had become a "tangible example of resistance to injustice" in Syria.

More details and video report: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011780473138345.html