Demonstrators demand rights for Alawites in Syria. The riots ended with violent crackdowns by security forces in several cities.
Thousands of members of the Alawite community protested in several parts of Syria on Sunday, two days after a bomb attack at a mosque in the city of Homs left eight dead and 18 injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says Syrian security forces tried to disperse the protests, killing two people. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
- Thousands of Alawites in Syria protested after the bombing.
- Security forces killed two people during the protests.
- The protests called for decentralization and the autonomy of local areas.
- Violence reported in the cities of Lazikiyah, Jabla and Homs.
- The bombing targeted the Alawite community in Homs.
A protest in the coastal city of Lazikiya required the intervention of the security forces, which dispersed clashes between demonstrators and supporters of the Islamist-led government. Clashes also occurred in the city of Jabla. SOHR also reports violence in Homs, with several people injured. Two people lost their lives when the security forces tried to disperse the protests. Syrian officials did not confirm whether security forces had opened fire on the protesters, but said they had “handled the situation”. At the same time, they accused the “remnants” of the government of ousted President Bashar Assad of attacking the security forces.
They chanted challenges
The protests followed a call by the head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, Ghazal Ghazal, who urged people on Saturday to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalized.” “We don’t want civil war. We want political federalism. We don’t want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” he said in a video posted on Facebook.
Protesters on Sunday held photographs of Ghazal along with banners expressing support for him. They chanted calls for the new Syrian authorities to allow decentralized government power and some degree of regional autonomy, reports AFP. They also called for an end to “sectarian rhetoric”. The bombing took place in an Alawite area of Homs on Friday, the latest attack on the religious minority since the fall of longtime President Assad. He also came from the Alawite community.
Since the ouster of Assad, SOHR and residents of Homs province have reported kidnappings and killings of members of the minority Alawite group. Last month, thousands of people protested the latest attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other areas.
