Thousands of Syrians took to the streets Friday demanding reforms and mourning dozens of protesters who were killed during a violent, weeklong crackdown that has brought extraordinary pressure on the country’s autocratic regime, activists and witnesses said.
Daraa, the main city of southern Syria’s drought-parched agricultural heartland, has become a flashpoint for protests in a country whose leadership stands unafraid of using extreme violence to quash internal unrest. The coming days will be a crucial test of the surge of popular discontent that has unseated autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt and threatens to push several others from power.
Sheltering in Daraa’s Roman-era old city, the protesters have persisted through seven days of increasing violence by security forces, but have not inspired significant unrest in other parts of the country.
On Friday, demonstrations took place in Daraa and throughout the country in what organizers called a “Day of Dignity.”
Syrian state TV portrayed an opposite picture of the public mood. Scenes broadcast Thursday included fireworks and crowds of pro-government supporters waving pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and shouting, “with our bloods and our souls, we defend you Bashar!”
The footage was marked onscreen as “live,” but it could not be determined when the footage actually originated.
Also Thursday, state TV broadcast an “urgent” message that read: “Following a directive by President Assad, all those who were detained in the latest events were released.”
It could not be determined whether the statement was true.
State TV reported on Wednesday that the government fired the provincial governor amid the demonstrations.
The Obama administration on Thursday released a statement condemning “the Syrian government’s brutal repression of demonstrations, in particular the violence and killings of civilians at the hands of security forces.”
“We call on the Syrian government to exercise restraint and respect the rights of its people and call on all citizens to exercise their rights peacefully,” the White House statement read.
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