Syrian forces ‘fire on civilians’

Human rights campaigners report scores of arrests and injuries as crackdown escalates in Damascus and Deraa Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are reported to have shot at unarmed civilians and arrested scores more in the escalating crackdown on pro-democracy protests. A dawn attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma was combined with a communications blackout in the area, according to a human rights campaigner in the capital. Syrian troops and tanks also rolled into the southern town of Deraa, according to witnesses, although their accounts could not be independently confirmed. There were also fears of more clashes in nearby Nawa. The campaigner told Reuters: “There are injured people. Scores have been arrested. The security are repeating the same pattern in all the centres of the democratic uprising. They want to put down the revolution using the utmost brutality.” Residents in Deraa said hundreds of troops had moved in. “They were firing. Witnesses have told me that there have been five deaths so far and houses have become hospitals,” a caller named Mohsen told al-Jazeera by telephone. More than 350 people have been killed since the unrest began in Syria five weeks ago. The worst single day for casualties was Friday, with 112 deaths, according to human rights groups. On Sunday, 13 people died in the coastal town of Jabla as security forces moved in to a Sunni quarter after protests, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syrian state TV said nine members of the security forces had been killed in the violence of recent days, seven in clashes with “armed gangs” in Nawa. On Monday, there were reports of bulldozers and military vehicles heading there. Thousands of people in the town called for the overthrow of Assad on Sunday at a funeral for protesters killed by security forces. Electricity and communications were cut off in parts of the town and residents, some armed, erected barriers in the streets. “Long live Syria. Down with Bashar!” mourners chanted during the funeral. “Leave, leave! The people want the overthrow of the regime.” Meanwhile, Syrian writers issued a declaration denouncing the crackdown. It was signed by 102 writers and journalists, in Syria and in exile, representing all the country’s main sects. It called on Syrian intellectuals “who have not broken the barrier of fear to make a clear stand. “We condemn the violent, oppressive practices of the Syrian regime against the protesters and mourn the martyrs of the uprising,” it said. Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Bashar Al-Assad Middle East guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 25, 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.