Syrians continue protests despite crackdown
Posted August 4, 2011 10:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Syrians continued to protest against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, despite a bloody government crackdown in Hama and other cities.
Hama, which is under a news blackout, has been the centre of a five-month-old uprising against Assad’s iron rule, and has been under military siege since Sunday.
Activists said dozens of people died Thursday in Hama, and that the death toll ranged from at least 100 to as high as 250 since Sunday when the crackdown began.
The death toll could not be verified because of the difficulty reaching residents and hospital officials in besieged Hama, where journalists are barred as they are throughout Syria.
“People are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street,” said one Hama resident, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “I saw with my own eyes one young boy on a motorcycle who was carrying vegetables being run over by a tank.”
Syrians continued to protest against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, despite a bloody government crackdown in Hama and other cities.
Hama, which is under a news blackout, has been the centre of a five-month-old uprising against Assad’s iron rule, and has been under military siege since Sunday.
Activists said dozens of people died Thursday in Hama, and that the death toll ranged from at least 100 to as high as 250 since Sunday when the crackdown began.
The death toll could not be verified because of the difficulty reaching residents and hospital officials in besieged Hama, where journalists are barred as they are throughout Syria.
“People are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street,” said one Hama resident, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “I saw with my own eyes one young boy on a motorcycle who was carrying vegetables being run over by a tank.”
Syrian security forces backed by tanks and snipers rolled into Hama on Sunday in a fierce campaign that left corpses in the streets and sent residents fleeing for their lives. On Wednesday, Syrian tanks stormed Hama, taking over a main city square.
The U.N. Security Council has condemned Syrian authorities for attacking civilians and committing widespread human rights violations.
Germany’s foreign minister has called for a special UN envoy on Syria to be named and immediately dispatched to the country.
With files from The Associated Press
