Protests demanding major reforms in Syria spread yesterday from the southern city of Daraa to Damascus, hours after the government announced a string of major reforms, including the possibility of ending emergency rule that has been in place since 1963.
Chanting “Daraa is Syria” and “We will sacrifice ourselves for Syria,” hundreds of people marched from Omayyed mosque in the center of Damascus’ Old City along Souk al-Hamadiyeh Street, before police moved in.
Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shouted back: “God, Syria and Bashar, that’s all,” as convoys in support of Assad took to the streets.
At least five protesters were taken away by officers in plain clothes, a correspondent reported.
Mourners also gathered en masse for the funeral of two people killed this week during clashes with security forces in Daraa, about 120km south of Damascus, where a security clampdown has left 100 dead according to human rights groups. Syrian authorities have put the death toll at 10.
Daraa had been calm yesterday morning with the army gone and children playing on the streets, although journalists were ordered to leave the city ahead of weekly prayers which have often been followed by protests.
Activists had vowed earlier to push on with rallies against “injustice and repression” after weekly Muslim prayers, dismissing reform pledges announced by the authorities.
In Dahel, south of Damascus, about 300 people marched after prayers. Another 3,000 people took to the streets of Baniyas, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Facebook group The Syria Revolution 2011, which has attracted almost 78,000 fans, had called for “Day of Dignity” rallies at mosques across Syria after a week of deadly protests in the south.
“We will continue to protest on Friday against injustice and repression in Daraa and throughout the country,” a statement on the Web site said. “We will continue to demand freedom through peaceful protests until our demands are met.”
The call for protests came despite announcements that Assad had ordered the release of all activists detained this month and the ruling Baath party had agreed to a string of reforms, including studying the lifting of emergency laws in force since 1963.
Presidential adviser Buthaina Shaaban also said a Baath meeting, chaired by Assad on Thursday, had agreed to look into a new media law granting “greater transparency and freedom,” and was forming a committee to discuss with Daraa residents the week’s events and to sanction those responsible.
The demonstrations began this month in Damascus, but they have largely been contained in the capital. They broke out in force instead in the tribal town of Daraa, where activists reported more than 100 people killed on Wednesday alone in clashes with security forces.
After Thursday’s reform announcements, pro-Assad demonstrators immediately took to the streets of Damascus, waving pictures of the president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, who came to power in 1970, but in Daraa, people flooded into the streets after the speech, rejecting the pledge in their chants as more of the same, a resident said.
Lawyer and activist Issa al-Masalmeh, 70, reached by telephone in Daraa, said the pledges, if fulfilled, would answer some of the demands of the opposition.
“Our peaceful movement will continue because we cannot simply rely on promises,” said Masalmeh, who was among those released after four days in jail.
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