Syria's noncelebratory gunfire in Daraa
Image by PanARMENIAN_Photo via FlickrThe political crisis in Syria deepened on Monday as the armed forces in the restive southern city of Dara’a fired live ammunition in the air to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators who had taken to the streets.Not many countries have a 48 year emergency. It must take gross incompetency to solve an emergency in that period of time. But the emergency was always an excuse for repression and a Stalin like system of control.
The marchers gathered in the city’s main square, chanting “Not Sunnis, not Alawis, we all want freedom” and “God, Syria and freedom only.” By late afternoon, hundreds of people had staged a sit-in, uncertain whether the army would try to break them up during the night. More than 60 people have been killed in Syria since March 18, human rights groups say; it was unclear if there were any casualties on Monday.
“They were marching peacefully, asking for their rights, when the army opened fire at them,” said one witness who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals. “But this is not the end.”
The armed forces had retreated from the city’s main arteries over the past few days, giving residents an uneasy sense of being in a standoff. The Associated Press reported that security forces were surrounding the city on Monday afternoon. The army was also still deployed in the northwestern city of Latakia, which had seen several days of violence.
The unrest in Syria poses a serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad and his Baath Party. Mr. Assad is expected to announce as early as Tuesday the repeal of the country’s emergency law, in place since 1963, which effectively allows security forces to detain citizens without charges. The timing of any repeal and whether it would quell the protests remains unclear, since other laws restrict freedoms and give immunity to the secret police.
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It is not clear why the government feels a need to surround a city of its own citizens. Their big complaint seems to be that they want to be left alone which does not sound all that unreasonable.
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