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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian forces fire on anti-Assad crowd in capital |
| 2012-02-19 |
| AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian security forces fired live ammunition to break up a protest against President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Saturday, killing at least one person, opposition activists said. The shooting broke out at the funerals of three youths killed on Friday in an anti-Assad protest that was one of the biggest in the capital since a nationwide uprising started. “They started firing at the crowd right after the burial. People are running and trying to take cover in the alleyways,” said a witness, speaking to Reuters in Amman by telephone. The opposition Syrian Revolution Coordination Union said the gunfire near the cemetery had killed one mourner and wounded four, including a woman who was hit in the head. A shopkeeper told Reuters many protesters were arrested. Up to 30,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets in the capital’s Mezze district, near the headquarters of Airforce Intelligence and that of the ruling Baath Party, witnesses said. Footage of the funeral broadcast on the Internet showed women ululating to honor the victims. Mourners shouted: “We sacrifice our blood, our soul for you martyrs. One, one, one, the Syrian people are one.” Youtube footage from the Damascus suburb of Douma showed several thousand protesters at the funerals of two people said to have been killed there by security forces. The bodies were carried though a sea of mourners waving pre-Baath Syrian flags. |
| Posted by:Steve White |