Syria Offers Changes Before Renewed Protests
European Pressphoto AgencyWrecked and ransacked shops in the Syrian city of Latakia, where security forces opened fire on protesters on Wednesday.By LIAM STACK
Published: March 31, 2011
Multimedia
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Syrian Leader Blames ‘Conspiracy’ for Turmoil (March 31, 2011)
Times Topic: Bashar Al-Assad
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Op-Ed Contributor: The Myth of Syrian Stability (April 1, 2011)
Hussein Malla/Associated Press
A doctor treated a man who was wounded during violence between security forces and protesters in Latakia on Sunday.
The New York Times
The government in Damascus is adopting a hard line.But analysts said they were doubtful that the changes, coming a day after President Bashar al-Assad pointedly refused to make concessions, would amount to more than window dressing, and activists promised to go ahead with plans for a nationwide protest on Friday.The protest could be a critical test of the strength of the movement, which in a little over two weeks has posed an unprecedented challenge to the four-decade iron rule of the Assad family.The police and the military have responded aggressively to check the protests; activists say at least 103 people have died. Mr. Assad’s speech to the nation on Wednesday, in which he called the protesters dupes and agents of a foreign conspiracy, left little doubt that the hard line would continue.Ammar al-Qurabi, a Syrian activist currently in Cairo, said the speech and the violence of the last two weeks could discourage some from protesting on Friday, but he said he remained optimistic.“People are afraid to protest tomorrow, but there are many who are upset about the speech and what is happening in the country right now, and a good many of them will not be afraid to take to the street,” he said.“Of course I am nervous; my people are being killed in the street,” he added. “The president’s speech was very threatening.”Mr. Assad, in his first public address since the unrest began, said the democracy protests were merely a disguise for a foreign conspiracy to “fragment Syria, to bring down Syria as a nation, to enforce an Israeli agenda.”He acknowledged popular demands for reform but insisted that protesters had been “duped” into damaging the nation on behalf of its enemies, and vowed that the country would not bow to foreign pressure.“It is clear from Bashar’s speech that he is threatening Syrians who go to the street,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights activist and visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington. “He ended the speech by saying, ‘This is a battle and we are ready to fight it.’ But against who?”That question appeared to be answered just hours after the speech, when security forces opened fire upon pro-democracy demonstrators in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of the ruling Baath Party and the Shiite Alawi sect that dominates it. Witnesses and activists gave conflicting reports of from 2 to 15 protesters killed.In one video posted to YouTube, protesters in Latakia can be seen and heard chanting, “The people just want freedom.” In a second, screaming demonstrators carry bloody bodies down the street.Nonetheless, the Facebook group Syrian Revolution 2011, which has more than 100,000 fans, urged Syrians to take to the streets on Friday. “What we have understood from the speech is that we have no choice but to remove the regime,” the group said in a statement posted Thursday.Mr. Assad’s harsh words on Wednesday contrasted with the conciliatory tone of two government announcements on Thursday creating new committees to address the protesters’ concerns.One committee was appointed to investigate deaths in Dara’a and Latakia, two cities where the government has cracked down on protesters, according to the state news agency. Syrian Human Rights Information Link, an activist organization, has documented the names of 103 people killed across the country since the protests began March 15, including at least 73 in Dara’a and 10 in Latakia. It was not clear if the number for Latakia included those killed Wednesday night.The government also announced the creation of a committee to study lifting the emergency law imposed in 1963 and replacing it with legislation “that secures the preservation of the country’s security, the dignity of citizens and combating terrorism,” according to the state news agency.Lifting the emergency law has been a major demand of the protesters. Among its provisions, the law silences dissent and allows security forces to detain citizens without charge.Activists expressed little faith that the government would expand political freedoms in any meaningful way. Mr. Ziadeh said he feared that replacing emergency law with antiterrorism laws would constitute only a cosmetic change. “They will put the same restrictions on basic rights into the terrorism law that they put into the emergency law,” he said. “The emergency law might be lifted but the state of emergency that governs every aspect of our lives will be the same."
Syria Offers Changes Before Renewed Protests
European Pressphoto Agency
Wrecked and ransacked shops in the Syrian city of Latakia, where security forces opened fire on protesters on Wednesday.
By LIAM STACK
Published: March 31, 2011
CAIRO — As Syria braced for renewed antigovernment demonstrations, the government announced new measures on Thursday seemingly aimed at addressing the protesters’ demands.
Multimedia
Related
Syrian Leader Blames ‘Conspiracy’ for Turmoil (March 31, 2011)
Times Topic: Bashar Al-Assad
Related in Opinion
Op-Ed Contributor: The Myth of Syrian Stability (April 1, 2011)
Hussein Malla/Associated Press
A doctor treated a man who was wounded during violence between security forces and protesters in Latakia on Sunday.
The New York Times
The government in Damascus is adopting a hard line.
But analysts said they were doubtful that the changes, coming a day after President Bashar al-Assad pointedly refused to make concessions, would amount to more than window dressing, and activists promised to go ahead with plans for a nationwide protest on Friday.
The protest could be a critical test of the strength of the movement, which in a little over two weeks has posed an unprecedented challenge to the four-decade iron rule of the Assad family.
The police and the military have responded aggressively to check the protests; activists say at least 103 people have died. Mr. Assad’s speech to the nation on Wednesday, in which he called the protesters dupes and agents of a foreign conspiracy, left little doubt that the hard line would continue.
Ammar al-Qurabi, a Syrian activist currently in Cairo, said the speech and the violence of the last two weeks could discourage some from protesting on Friday, but he said he remained optimistic.
“People are afraid to protest tomorrow, but there are many who are upset about the speech and what is happening in the country right now, and a good many of them will not be afraid to take to the street,” he said.
“Of course I am nervous; my people are being killed in the street,” he added. “The president’s speech was very threatening.”
Mr. Assad, in his first public address since the unrest began, said the democracy protests were merely a disguise for a foreign conspiracy to “fragment Syria, to bring down Syria as a nation, to enforce an Israeli agenda.”
He acknowledged popular demands for reform but insisted that protesters had been “duped” into damaging the nation on behalf of its enemies, and vowed that the country would not bow to foreign pressure.
“It is clear from Bashar’s speech that he is threatening Syrians who go to the street,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights activist and visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington. “He ended the speech by saying, ‘This is a battle and we are ready to fight it.’ But against who?”
That question appeared to be answered just hours after the speech, when security forces opened fire upon pro-democracy demonstrators in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of the ruling Baath Party and the Shiite Alawi sect that dominates it. Witnesses and activists gave conflicting reports of from 2 to 15 protesters killed.
In one video posted to YouTube, protesters in Latakia can be seen and heard chanting, “The people just want freedom.” In a second, screaming demonstrators carry bloody bodies down the street.
Nonetheless, the Facebook group Syrian Revolution 2011, which has more than 100,000 fans, urged Syrians to take to the streets on Friday. “What we have understood from the speech is that we have no choice but to remove the regime,” the group said in a statement posted Thursday.
Mr. Assad’s harsh words on Wednesday contrasted with the conciliatory tone of two government announcements on Thursday creating new committees to address the protesters’ concerns.
One committee was appointed to investigate deaths in Dara’a and Latakia, two cities where the government has cracked down on protesters, according to the state news agency. Syrian Human Rights Information Link, an activist organization, has documented the names of 103 people killed across the country since the protests began March 15, including at least 73 in Dara’a and 10 in Latakia. It was not clear if the number for Latakia included those killed Wednesday night.
The government also announced the creation of a committee to study lifting the emergency law imposed in 1963 and replacing it with legislation “that secures the preservation of the country’s security, the dignity of citizens and combating terrorism,” according to the state news agency.
Lifting the emergency law has been a major demand of the protesters. Among its provisions, the law silences dissent and allows security forces to detain citizens without charge.
Activists expressed little faith that the government would expand political freedoms in any meaningful way. Mr. Ziadeh said he feared that replacing emergency law with antiterrorism laws would constitute only a cosmetic change. “They will put the same restrictions on basic rights into the terrorism law that they put into the emergency law,” he said. “The emergency law might be lifted but the state of emergency that governs every aspect of our lives will be the same."
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