LEBANON: Hundreds of Syrian refugees in the Lebanese northern city of Tripoli protest after Friday's prayers against the Syrian election and President Bashar Al-Assad

Record ID: 274579

  • Title: LEBANON: Hundreds of Syrian refugees in the Lebanese northern city of Tripoli protest after Friday's prayers against the Syrian election and President Bashar Al-Assad
  • Date: 30th May 2014
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 30, 2014) (REUTERS) SYRIAN REFUGEES PROTESTING AGAINST SYRIA'S PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS AND ISLAMIC AND FREE SYRIAN ARMY FLAGS BANNER READING (Arabic): "FALL BASHAR AND HIS ALLIES" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING (Arabic) "THE PEOPLE WANT YOUR EXECUTION, BASHAR" PROTESTERS CHANTING AND HITTING PHOTOGRAPH OF ASSAD
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1GQX1FO8JEC2MYY4X0OYHDVL5
  • Story Text: Syrian refugees opposing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad were joined by some Lebanese protesters in Lebanon's second largest city of Tripoli to demonstrate against the upcoming Syrian presidential elections.
    Tens of thousands of Syrians in Lebanon cast their votes on Wednesday (May 28) in Syria's elections for expatriates living abroad, chanting for current Syrian president Assad.
    On Friday, after midday prayers in Tripoli, hundreds went onto the streets demonstrating against Assad. Banners reading 'Fall Bashar and his allies' were held during the protest along with flags of the Free Syrian Army.
    "I would like to say that those people who went out today are against Bashar al-Assad, and God willing, don't think if a million or two million are with him that our revolution will stop, this will let us continue in the revolution and Incha Allah (God willing) victors," said Amine, a Syrian refugee man from Homs who joined the demonstration.
    Protesters chanted slogans, including: "The people want your execution, Bashar" and "To heaven we are going, martyrs in millions". There was a banner showing a caricature of people coming out of cemeteries to vote with a sentence reading "Electoral play: the dead in Syria vote", in a sarcastic illustration of what happened on Wednesday at the Syrian embassy in Lebanon.
    Refugees waved flags and held aloft pictures of Assad as they packed into Damascus's embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday to join Syrians worldwide voting early in an election that looks certain to give him a third seven-year term as president.
    Expatriates and those who have fled the war were casting their ballots at dozens of Syrian embassies abroad ahead of the June 3 vote that opponents have dismissed as a farce as the fighting rages into its fourth year.
    Assad has been in power since 2000 when he took over from his father, Hafez, who ruled before that for 30 years. The election is an illustration of how effectively the government has weathered the revolt that has killed more than 160,000 people and how it exerts influence beyond its borders.
    Several voters had said they were voting for Assad, with few voting for the other two candidates, Hassan Abdallah al-Nouri and lawmaker Maher Abdel-Hafiz Hajjar.
    Syrian state television said voting took place in 43 embassies. It broadcasted footage from Kuala Lumpur, Tehran and Amman.
    The European Union has said holding an election 'in the midst of conflict, only in regime-controlled areas and with millions of Syrians displaced from their homes would be a parody of democracy, have no credibility whatsoever, and undermine efforts to reach a political solution'.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also said such elections are 'incompatible' with peace talks in Geneva that broke down in February but which both sides have agreed to continue. The peace talks are based on seeking a political transition in Syria.
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