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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||
| Syrian troops open fire, defying presidential "order" | |||
| 2011-05-14 | |||
AFP - At least three protesters were shot dead in Syria on Friday despite an order from President Bashar al-Assad for security forces not to open fire on demonstrators, rights activists said.
In Hama, the army used batons, tear gas and water cannons to scatter anti-regime rallies, but protesters succeeded in ripping down a town hall portrait of the president, an activist said. And in the southern flashpoint town of Daraa, security forces fired warning shots to disperse thousands of anti-regime demonstrators, another activist said. The gunfire erupted as thousands of demonstrators took to Daraa's streets after weekly Muslim prayers, said the activist in the town that was the scene of a massive 10-day military operation that ended last week. In Ibtaa, a small village near Daraa, protesters demanded a new president, according to amateur videos posted online. Other videos showed rallies in Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, and the port city of Latakia, where demonstrators held up banners that read: "A dignified life, or death." Thousands marched in the northern, mostly Kurdish regions of Qamishli, Derbassiye and Amuda, as well as in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, where security forces tore down anti-regime banners, activists told AFP. After several days of sweeping arrests in protest hot spots, soldiers and security services were deployed in a massive show of force for the latest showdown with demonstrators across Syria on the Muslim weekly day of prayers. Louai Hussein, a writer and leading activist, said earlier the protests would go ahead as planned following midday prayers in mosques, after Assad's office promised him that security forces would not shoot at demonstrators. In a message posted on his Facebook page, Hussein said senior Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had "told me during a telephone conversation that strict presidential orders were given not to fire on the demonstrators." "All of those who violate these orders will assume full responsibility," he quoted Shaaban as saying.
The army started to pull out of the coastal province of Banias where it deployed in force last week to curb anti-regime protests, Information Minister Adnan Msaid. "After having ensured a return of security, the army divisions have started a gradual withdrawal from Banias and its province," Adnan Mahmud said.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 "...Hey, whaddyagonnado? Always some goombah who doesn't get the memo. Wanna cannoli?" Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2011-05-14 10:44 |