WORLD_ Violence in Syria Prompts Protests at Embassies

February 4, 2012, 2:26 pm
Violence in Syria Prompts Protests at Embassies

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER

As my colleagues Neil MacFarquhar and Anthony Shadid report, Russia and China vetoed a resolution before the United Nations Security Council, aimed at curbing violence in Syria. The vote came after reports of at least 200 deaths and hundreds more injuries as a result of shelling and machine-gun fire in the city of Homs.

The violence has prompted protests directed at Syrian embassies in several countries. A video posted on Friday by an activist in London was said to capture the protest scene near the embassy there. In the clip, gatherers chanted “Free, free Syria,” as they approached the building, before being rebuffed by officers. The crowd shouted “Shame on you!” as police appeared to drive the group away from the embassy. Later, there appeared to be at least one protester on the balcony of the embassy, near a flagpole, as the crowd watched him and cheered. Near the end of the clip, another protester was seen lying in the street.

According to a BBC report, six people were arrested during the episode: five for forcing entry into the embassy and a sixth for assaulting an officer. Demonstrators said they had been “kettled” by police and were unable to leave the protest site, the report said. The police said about 150 had attended the demonstration.

Anass Toma, a Syrian graduate student, told the BBC that the day’s violence in Homs had prompted him to attend the protest in Belgrave Square. He continued:

We came to the embassy because there were 300 people killed in Syria today. People are angry. I’m worried about the situation back home. I’ve been in London two years but I’m Syrian, from Aleppo. We don’t know what message the Syrian regime is giving out with this massacre today — given the U.N. Security Council vote . . . We don’t really understand what they’re doing. But we must stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Another clip, posted by an activist in Canada, appeared to show the awning of the Syrian Embassy in Ottawa splattered with red paint.

In Manhattan, scores gathered Saturday morning across from the United Nations, leading chants and holding signs calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s removal. “We want democracy! No more hypocrisy!” the group chanted around 9:30 a.m., followed by shouts of “Down, down with dictator!” as a large flag was unfurled on the southwest corner of East 47th Street and First Avenue.

“He wants to get his agenda done before the meeting and before any decision,” Rasha Basha, 41, a Syrian native from Michigan, said of Mr. Assad. Ms. Basha, who said she witnessed the massacre in the Syrian city of Hama 30 years ago, traveled with her son Ibrahim, 22, from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., on Friday morning for a different protest against violence in the region.

“He’s a killer,” she said of the president, adjusting a scarf that read “Free Syria” in red lettering. “A bloodthirsty killer.”

She urged the Security Council to consider the potential consequences if it failed to intervene quickly, warning that “thousands of lives will be lost” if the current regime retains its grip on power.


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