Pro-government students launched brutal crackdown on protesting peers at Damascus University, amid nationwide unrest.
Hugh Macleod and a reporter in Syria
Al-Jazeera
"Holding olive branches and flowers in their hands 150 medical students gathered outside their faculty at Damascus University, their white coats bright in the midday sun.
Outraged at the news that more than a dozen protesters had been killed in Homs in two days, the students dared the previously unthinkable: a rally against the regime on a campus where even a whisper of politics could land you in jail.
"God, Syria, freedom only", they chanted, their voices reverberating around the university buildings.
From across the campus a large crowd of some 500 students from the Students' Union, which is run by the Baath party, slowly descended on the protesters. The call for freedom was soon drowned out. "God, Syria, Bashar only", came the rhythmic chant, the familiar refrain of the regime's supporters.
"We tried to ignore them at first, but they kept coming closer", said Mohammad, 22, one of the student protesters. "Then they began to beat us with wooden sticks and their belts."
The white coats scattered, olive branches and flowers left to be trampled underfoot. "There were so many of them and we didn't want to fight," said Mohammed.
"I feel sorry for them, because they do the dirty work of the security services...."
Hugh Macleod and a reporter in Syria
Al-Jazeera
"Holding olive branches and flowers in their hands 150 medical students gathered outside their faculty at Damascus University, their white coats bright in the midday sun.
Outraged at the news that more than a dozen protesters had been killed in Homs in two days, the students dared the previously unthinkable: a rally against the regime on a campus where even a whisper of politics could land you in jail.
"God, Syria, freedom only", they chanted, their voices reverberating around the university buildings.
From across the campus a large crowd of some 500 students from the Students' Union, which is run by the Baath party, slowly descended on the protesters. The call for freedom was soon drowned out. "God, Syria, Bashar only", came the rhythmic chant, the familiar refrain of the regime's supporters.
"We tried to ignore them at first, but they kept coming closer", said Mohammad, 22, one of the student protesters. "Then they began to beat us with wooden sticks and their belts."
The white coats scattered, olive branches and flowers left to be trampled underfoot. "There were so many of them and we didn't want to fight," said Mohammed.
"I feel sorry for them, because they do the dirty work of the security services...."
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