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More Unrest in Syria Wounds 5

   VOA News  April 10, 2011
   In this image made from television, protesters are seen near a
   barricade in Daraa, Syria, April 8, 2011

Photo: AP

   In this image made from television, protesters are seen near a
   barricade in Daraa, Syria, April 8, 2011

   Syria's unrest has reached the coastal city of Banias, where witnesses
   say supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have wounded five
   people.
   Witnesses say the loyalists fired from cars at a group of people at Abu
   Bakr al-Siddiq mosque on Sunday.
   Residents in Banias say protesters gathered Saturday and Sunday in the
   coastal city to rally against the government.
   There are problems getting phone calls through to the city, making
   details of the unrest unclear. Residents told the French news agency
   that all landlines and cell phones there had been cut.
   Witnesses said Syrian security forces opened fire on opposition
   activists in two other cities on Saturday.
   They said security forces in the port city of Latakia fired live
   ammunition to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters.
   In the southern town of Daraa, witnesses said security forces fired at
   mourners attending funerals for some of the victims of Friday's
   anti-government unrest.
   A Syrian rights group, The National Organization for Human Rights in
   Syria, reported Sunday that security forces killed 26 protesters in and
   around Daraa on Friday.
   Activists had called for more protests on Saturday in spite of a new
   government warning against demonstrations. After Friday's bloodshed,
   Syria's Interior Ministry said there is "no more room for leniency or
   tolerance" in enforcing the country's laws and maintaining security.
   The United Nations secretary-general and EU foreign policy chief have
   both condemned the violence in Syria. The EU's Catherine Ashton also
   urged the government to enact "meaningful political reforms."
   President Assad recently announced reform plans that included changing
   government leadership positions. He also has said authorities are
   studying whether to lift emergency regulations, enacted decades ago,
   that ban unsanctioned public gatherings and limit other forms of public
   expression.
   However, so far the president's gestures have failed to appease
   opposition activists who call for a sweeping overhaul of Syrian
   institutions.

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References

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