Thousands protest in Syrian town despite reform pledges

France’s Sarkozy demands end to Syria violence

DAMASCUS (AlArabiya.net)

Thousands gathered on Thursday night in the restive Syrian city of Deraa chanting “freedom,
revolution” despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad to consider reforming the country’s authoritarian political system. Al Arabiya correspondent in Damascus said crowds from Deraa and from nearby villagers were continuing to pour into the old quarter of the city around the main Omari mosque, which security forces evacuated earlier after storming it on Wednesday and killing six people.

Some demonstrators reacted to the government’s pledge of reform as insufficient and demanded concrete steps to be taken against those responsible for the deaths of dozens of protesters.

The president’s media adviser Buthaina Shaaban had announced on Wednesday that he ruling Baath party had agreed to a series of reforms, including raising the salaries of state employees.

Shaaban said the government would also form a committee to listen to the demands of the people of Deraa, a tribal city at Syria’s border with Jordan that has been the focal point of the week-long protests.

In major international reaction to the pledged reforms French President Nicols Sarkozy called on Friday for a halt of all forms of violence against demonstrators in Syria, saying that no democracy would accept opening fire on peaceful demonstrators.

“We expressed out great concern over the rise of violence in Syria,” Sarkozy told a European summit.

“In all democracies there are demonstrations and it is possible that violence will occur, but what is not acceptable is the shooting of demonstrators,” Sarkozy said.

Separately, US defense minister Robert Gates urged Syria to follow Egypt’s example where the army refused to open fire of demonstrators and helped speed up the departure of the president Hosni Mubarak as people demanded.

Gates said the challenge facing the Syrian government is the same challenge of corruption and political and economic injustice facing governments across the region. He suggested that the regimes in Iran, Syria and Libya are authoritarian and do not hesitate to use force to quell peaceful protests.

(Compiled by Mustapha Ajbaili)