July 22, 2011
Protests' Size Shows Gain In Momentum Across Syria
By NADA BAKRI
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Friday across Syria, residents and antigovernment activists said, with enormous protests in two of the country's five largest cities suggesting a growing momentum that the government of President Bashar al-Assad seemed at a loss to stanch.
Though the death toll was lower than in past weeks -- five, by the activists' count -- the scenes in Hama, in central Syria, and Deir al-Zour, in a drought-stricken region in the east, showed the tenacity of the protest movement, which, after four months, can claim wide popular support for an uprising against Mr. Assad's leadership.
The government's response seemed to hint at its priorities. Protests were unhindered in Hama and Deir al-Zour. Hama, the scene of one of the modern Middle East's bloodiest episodes a generation ago, has claimed a measure of independence after security forces withdrew [1] last month. Deir al-Zour, knitted by the loyalties of extended clans, seems too combustible for the government to use repression.
But the government deployed its forces heavily in cities that seemed crucial to its continuity: Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's two largest cities, and Homs, where a Sunni Muslim majority co-exists with Alawites, members of a minority heterodox Muslim sect, from which the government draws strength.
"The authorities think that repressing the protests in those places is a priority," said Omar Idlibi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, [2] an umbrella group that helps plan and document protests. "They cannot let things get out of hand there. If they do, they'll lose control."
Government loyalists fired at protesters in several towns and cities, killing five, residents and activists said. Another protester died Friday after being wounded this month in Hama. Friday's killings included one in Mliha, a suburb of Damascus; two in the suburbs of Aleppo, which has remained largely quiet; one in Homs; and one in Idlib.
Friday's protests, under the slogan of unity, came a week after a wave of sectarian bloodshed in Homs. That violence signaled a dangerous turn in the uprising against Mr. Assad.
"We are all one, not Arabs, not Kurds, not Muslims, not Christians, not Alawites, not Druse," shouted protesters in Dara'a, the impoverished town in southwestern Syria where the movement began. "We all want freedom."
In the northeast town of Hasakah, protesters were shot at after they toppled a statue of Mr. Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, who led for three decades. In nearby Qamishli, security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters, arresting dozens, activists said. Despite the security forces' grip on Homs, thousands demonstrated against the government. They set up barricades and roadblocks as protection from raids by security forces, said a resident, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal.
On Friday, the authorities said "armed terrorist groups" had attacked a military bus along the Homs-Aleppo highway, killing two soldiers.
Hwaida Saad and Anthony Shadid contributed reporting.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/middleeast/30syria.html
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/world/middleeast/01syria.html