Israel Matzav

Video of anti-government demonstrations in Syria; UPDATED

Here's a video of an anti-government demonstration in Damascus, Syria on Tuesday night.

Let's go to the videotape.



Here's a second video of the same demonstration, although it appears to be earlier in the day.

Let's go to the videotape.



And one more video. Here's an interview with Syrian activist Suhair Al-Atissi on al-Jazeera Arabic. If you press the closed-captioned button the bottom right of the screen, you will get an English translation.

Let's go to the videotape.



Hmmm.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 11:15 AM

Here is some more information about these videos.

A short YouTube video showed a few dozen people marching down Hameediyeh, near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus' old city, clapping and chanting "God, Syria, freedom -- that's enough." The crowd also chanted "Peaceful, Peaceful", heard in protests that brought down Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak last month.

A voice in the background said: "The date is (March) 15 ... This is the first obvious uprising against the Syrian regime ... Alawite or Sunni, all kinds of Syrians, we want to bring down the regime".

As protests were taking place, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was quoted by AFP as saying that political reforms would be implemented this year.

At a press conference with Spanish counterpart Trinidad Jimenez, Moallem said Syria will take steps towards introducing political reforms “this year." According to Saudi TV network Al Arabiya, protests took place not only in Damascus, but also in Haleb and Deir a Zur.

Assad would hesitate even less than Gadhafi to shoot people if he felt threatened. And he'd be much cooler and more methodical about it.

Labels: Syrian regime change

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:23 PM