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Syrian govt: Ignore those text messages
[Al Jazeera] Syria's interior ministry urged residents to ignore text messages and leaflets to join a rally in Damascus'
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
Umayad Square on Sunday night for their own safety.

In a message on state television, the ministry called on people not to respond to the calls, which it said were "tendentious" and "untruthful".

But pro-government Syrians have previously taken to the streets to show their support for al-Assad.

However,
The punctuational However...
Al Jizz's Perry, said that while pro-government protests have been called for in Damascus, the authorities are advising people not to attend.

"They're also sending residents text messages that they should not attend any demonstrations," he said.

The unrest in Syria came to a head after police jugged more than a dozen schoolchildren for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.

Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in this most tightly controlled of Arab countries where the Baath Party has been in power for nearly 50 years.

In another move said to be aimed at placating protesters, Syrian authorities on Sunday released a lawyer - Diana Jawabra -along with 15 others who were tossed in the slammer for taking part in a silent protest demanding the release of the children responsible for the graffiti.

This follows news of the freeing of 260 political prisoners.

Assad also faces calls to curb a pervasive security apparatus, free political prisoners and reveal the fate of tens of thousands of dissidents who disappeared in the 1980s.
Posted by: Fred 2011-03-28
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=319175