President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
after the weekly Friday prayers in the Tripoli neighborhood of Qibbeh.
The protest, which was called for by the Mohammedan League of Students, took place despite earlier moves by the authorities to confine the protests to mosques and enclosed spaces.
The marchers chanted anti-Assad slogans in the streets of Leb's second largest city, and taking part were a number of Syrian nationals.
Amid calls for reform and pressure from the international community, Assad's regime has responded to protests with a violent crackdown on protesters, killing at least 1,200 people throughout the country since March.
Demonstrators rallying in solidarity with pro-democracy protests in Syria raised banners denouncing the actions of the Assad regime, and were escorted during the march by members of the Internal Security Forces.
Taking a page from protests being held in Syria, where nearly all foreign media have been unable to cover the demonstrations, some banners mentioned the date and place of Friday's demonstration. The tactic has been employed by protesters in Syria seeking to counter accusations by the government that televised scenes of demonstrations in the country have been fabricated, as part of a conspiracy.
They expressed their solidarity by holding banners marking the "Friday of the Tribes," and one man held a sign asking "Do you know that Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
is in Syria?" in a reference to the weak support thus far for anti-regime protests in the northern city.
Demonstrators urged the international community to prosecute Assad for his crimes against innocent protesters.
Some at the rally told the Daily Star that the demonstrations would continue to support the Syrian people until their demands for toppling "Assad's oppressive regime" are met.
Rallies both in support of and against the Assad regime have taken place in Leb since the protests erupted in Syria.