Friday, March 25, 2011

Syria: Security Forces Kill Dozens of Protesters


Many Activists and Protesters Arrested

March 24, 2011
"(London) - Syria's security forces should immediately stop using live ammunition against protesters in the southern town of Daraa, where the death toll has risen considerably in the last 48 hours, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also immediately release all those detained for protesting peacefully or expressing their opinions.

A Syrian human rights group has released a list of 36 dead in Daraa and its surrounding areas since protests began on March 18, 2011, while an official in the main Daraa hospital told Reuters on March 24 that the hospital had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters.

"Syria's security forces are showing the same cruel disregard for protesters' lives as their counterparts in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "President Bashar al-Asad's talk about reforms doesn't mean anything when his security forces are mowing down people who want to talk about them."

At around 1:30 a.m. on March 23, Syrian security forces using teargas canisters and live bullets stormed the al-Omari mosque in Daraa, where protesters had gathered since March 18, two Daraa residents told Human Rights Watch. One resident, who was about 25 meters from the mosque at the time, said he saw corpses on the street. The phone conversation was interrupted by repeated gunfire.

A Syrian activist who has been closely monitoring the situation and speaking to Daraa residents by phone told Human Rights Watch, "It sounded like a war zone on the other end. I am really worried about a massacre."

Two Syrian human rights activists said that seven protesters were killed that night, including a child, Ibtisam al-Musalema......."

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