For the fifth day in a row, on Thursday, protests continued in the As-Suwayda governorate, southern Syria, against the worsening economic conditions, and an affirmation of popular demands for the departure of the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad.
Hundreds gathered in the main square, raising banners expressing their demands, in conjunction with the renewal of evening vigils in a number of villages and towns.
Hold on to the demands in the As-Suwayda demonstrations
The continuation of the protests coincided with the arrival of a delegation from the Bedouin clans to the demonstration square in the center of As-Suwayda, to confirm adherence to the demands associated with the strike and to prevent government institutions from carrying out their work.
The demonstrators in As-Suwayda renewed their demand for the release of all Syrian detainees in the prisons of the Syrian regime, as well as the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2254, which requires the implementation of a political solution in Syria under the auspices of the United Nations.
The governorate also witnessed a partial closure of the Damascus-Sweida road, with emergency and emergency cases allowed to pass, and the road opened for pedestrians approximately every quarter of an hour, and then closed again.
In the context, prominent religious leaders of the Druze community, who were previously loyal to the government, met today, Thursday, for the first time since the protests erupted, and recognized the right to peaceful protest against government policies, but they refrained from supporting widespread calls for al-Assad to step down.
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Syrian Druze community, told members of the sect: This movement is the voice of truth for the Syrian people. But he condemned last week’s vandalism or violence, when youths burned tires and blocked access to the city.
Burning a picture of the lion
“Leave, leave, Bashar,” and “We want to eat, Bashar,” chanted protesters who had burned a huge poster of Assad hanging in the main square on Wednesday. These same chants were heard at the start of pro-democracy protests in 2011, which faced a violent crackdown by security forces and sparked more than a decade of conflict.
And the protests against the Syrian regime, which are indignant at the new economic measures taken by the authorities after raising the price of fuel by the government of the Syrian regime, witnessed raising the ceiling of demands to overthrow the regime.
Syria is in the midst of a deep economic crisis that has seen the local currency collapse, leading to a rise in the prices of food and basic supplies. The regime’s government says Western sanctions are to blame for the crisis.
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2023-08-24 19:52:01
