Syrian police fires tear gas at mourners in Deraa
Syrian security forces fired teargas on Saturday at hundreds of mourners who took part in a funeral for two protesters as they tried to gather in the centre of the southern city of Deraa, a Reuters witness said.
Thousands of mourners called on Saturday for "revolution" at the funeral of protesters killed by Syrian security forces, the boldest challenge to Syria’s rulers since uprisings began sweeping the Arab world.
At least ten thousand people demonstrated on Saturday in Deraa, a tribal region south of the capital, at the funeral of two protesters of at least four were killed on Friday.
"Revolution, revolution. Rise up Hauran," chanted the mourners in Deraa, administrative capital of the strategic Hauran plateau, as they marched behind simple wood coffins of Wissam Ayyash and Mahmoud al-Jawabra.
"God, Syria, Freedom. Whoever kills his own people is a traitor," they said.
The two were killed when security forces opened fire on Friday on civilians taking part in a peaceful protest demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption in Syria, which has been ruled under emergency laws by President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party for nearly half a century.
A third man who was killed on Friday, Ayhem al-Hariri, was buried in a village near Deraa earlier on Saturday. A fourth protester, Adnan Akrad, died on Saturday from his wounds.
Secret police at the main funeral in Deraa arrested at least one mourner, activists said. Security was heavy in the city, especially around police stations.
Children arrests fuel resentment
Protests against Syria’s ruling elite, inspired by revolts in the Arab world, have gathered momentum this week after a silent protest in Damascus by 150 people demanding the release of thousands of political prisoners.
At least one activist from Deraa, Diana al-Jawabra, took part in the protest. She was arrested and is facing charges of weakening national morale, along with 32 protesters in jail, a lawyer said.
Jawabra was campaigning for the release of 15 schoolchildren in who were arrested in Deraa this month after writing slogans on walls inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia that swept their autocratic leaders from power.
Residents say the children’s arrests in the tribal region deepened feelings of repression and helped fuel the protests in Deraa, the biggest threat yet to the authority of Assad.
Assad said in an interview in January that Syria’s leadership was "very closely linked to the beliefs of the people" and there was no mass discontent.
"The leadership have given a clear signal that they are not in any hurry to embark on fundamental political reform," one diplomat in the Syrian capital said.
Deraa is home to thousands of displaced people from eastern Syria, where up to 1 million people have left their homes because of a water crisis over the past six years. Experts say state mismanagement of resources has worsened the crisis.
The Hauran region, once a Middle East bread basket, has also been affected by diminishing water levels, with yields per hectare falling by a quarter in Deraa last year.
A prominent Syrian rights activist says police have sealed Deraa where security forces killed five protesters.
Mazen Darwish says people are being allowed out of Daraa but they cannot come in. He cited residents who did not want their names published for fear of reprisals.
Sealing the city appeared to be a way to isolate any further unrest in Daraa.
Syrian women protest
A group of 10 women activists detained by Syrian authorities in a protest earlier this week have launched a hunger strike, rights groups said Saturday.
"All women jailed after the peaceful protest Wednesday outside the interior ministry have begun an open-ended hunger strike in the Duma detention centre for women," said the Syrian League for Human Rights, an umbrella group of several rights monitors.
The statement named the women as Suheir Atassi, Sirine Khoury, Ruba and Laila Labwani, Dana Jawabreh, Nisrine Hassan, Wafaa Lahham, Nahed Badawiyya, Siba Hassan and Hervine Awssi.
It said Awssi’s relatives reported she had also been refusing water.
Small protests have erupted since March 15 in the Old City of Damascus, demanding the release of political prisoners and reforms in the country, amid a wave of popular uprisings across the Middle East.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said authorities on Thursday charged 32 activists detained during Wednesday’s rally with attacking the reputation of the state. Human Rights Watch confirmed the detention of 18 activists in Wednesday’s rally.
Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the motors behind an unprecedented string of protests in Syria, called for Saturday protests in Homs, revealing the protest’s venue despite the tight control kept by the country’s security services.
The fresh call for protests came a day after rights groups reported that security forces killed four people and wounded hundreds in a rally in the southern city of Daraa.
Demonstrations on Friday marking a "Day of Dignity" were also reported in the coastal town of Banias and in Homs.
In Damascus, AFP reporters saw plain-clothes police dragging away at least two activists who had apparently begun to chant "freedom" after prayer at the main mosque.