Syria: Assad loyalists besiege US and French embassies in Damascus

Syrian regime angered by diplomats’ visits to Hama, as US accuses government of slow response to violence Angry Syrians loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have stormed the US and French embassies in Damascus to protest against their ambassadors’ visits to Hama over the weekend – criticised by the Syrian government as a “flagrant intervention” in its affairs. Demonstrators waving flags and pictures of the president surrounded the embassies, chanting slogans including “We will die for you, Bashar”. Protesters, many of them bused in, scaled the US embassy building and replaced the stars and stripes with the Syrian flag. Graffiti were scrawled on the buildings, tomatoes and litter thrown, and glass smashed. Men dressed in riot gear and security officers appeared to do nothing to restrain the crowds at the US embassy. At the French embassy, witnesses said shots were fired into the air to disperse the attacks. US ambassador Robert Ford’s residence also came under attack. Earlier, ad-Dounia, a TV station close to the regime, had called on people to send the ambassador a message. Washington and Paris condemned the attacks. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said: “We demand [Syria] meet their international responsibilities immediately to protect all diplomats and the property of all countries.” Under international law, host countries are obliged to protect foreign mission staff and property. “By either allowing or inciting this kind of behaviour by these mobs against American and French diplomats and their property, they are clearly trying to deflect attention from their crackdown internally and to move the world’s view away from what they are doing,” Clinton said. “It just doesn’t work.” Clinton also warned Assad and his supporters that there was no truth to suggestions by some that the US wanted to see the current regime stay in power for the sake of stability. “President Assad is not indispensable and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power,” she said. The US has repeatedly protested over the suppression of unrest during the past few months and urged Assad to reform or step aside. But, unlike in the case of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, it has not called explicitly for his overthrow. Human rights groups say more than 1,500 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured as security forces try to suppress unprecedented and growing opposition to the Assad regime. Thousands have been detained and many tortured. The unprecedented scenes in the capital contrasted with those at the weekend in the flashpoint central city of Hama, which has become the focus of international attention after slipping out of government control. Despite drawing the ire of Syrian officials, Ford’s deliberately high-profile visit to Hama was met with roses and cheers on Thursday and Friday. The city, where the memory of a bloody 1982 crackdown endures, has become the heart of a popular fightback against the government. Then, under the president’s father, Hafez, the assault was to quell an armed Islamist uprising. Today Assad faces a movement of overwhelmingly unarmed protesters. “We are treated like animals rather than people and now we are starting to behave like citizens,” said one 55-year-old man, whose brother and father were killed in the 1982 assault. Government forces, including the security services, police – and on some days even the traffic police – withdrew the weekend after 3 June, a bloody Friday when more than 70 people were shot dead during protests after Friday prayers. Residents have since organised themselves, taking on the traditional role of the government in creating a functioning city, and since last weekend, when tanks approached the outskirts of the city, resisting any broad incursion by security services and the army. Names have been changed to protect identities. Nour Ali is a pseudonym for a journalist in Syria Syria Bashar Al-Assad United States France guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.