JORDAN: Islamist activists gather to protest against the violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations

Record ID: 279867

  • Title: JORDAN: Islamist activists gather to protest against the violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations
  • Date: 28th April 2011
  • Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (APRIL 27, 2011) (REUTERS) ISLAMIST PROTESTERS CLOSE TO SYRIAN EMBASSY SYRIAN FLAG AT EMBASSY VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING SLOGANS IN SUPPORT OF SYRIAN UPRISING PROTESTERS CHANTING (Arabic): "One nation, one flag." PLACARD READING (Arabic): "Sham (classical Arabic name for Syria) is ours and we are obliged (towards Syria)." PROTESTS HOLDING PICTURES
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan, Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2TLPHW7VCQ34FRSG48HBR6AA2
  • Story Text: Islamists in Jordan held a rally on Wednesday (April 27) to express their anger at events in next door Syria, where mass demonstrations and security crackdowns have left hundreds dead after almost six weeks of unrest.
    The Islamists, from the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, held their protest outside the Syrian embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman.
    Among their protest banners uses Syria's classical Arabic name with the message: "Sham is ours and we are obliged".
    The party's secretary general said what was happening in Syria was a crime.
    "This is a clear sign that regimes which use these methods, alongside Israel, are two faces of the same coin. There is no difference between the regimes of al-Assad and Israel. No difference between al Gaddafi regime and Israel's, at all. The al-Assad regime is committing a crime and he must be held responsible for this act," Mamdouh Mahmoud said.
    Syrian human rights groups estimate at least 400 civilians have been killed during the pro-democracy protests and ensuing security crackdowns, with around 200 killed since President Bashar al-Assad lifted Syria's 48-year state of emergency on Thursday (April 21).
    The United States is considering sanctions against Syrian government officials to increase pressure on Assad to end the crackdown.
    Britain, France, Germany and Portugal are asking the U.N. Security Council to condemn the Syrian response in a draft statement being circulated in New York, a U.N. diplomat said.
    Syria has been ruled by the Assad family since Bashar's father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, took power in a 1970 coup. The younger Assad kept intact the autocratic political system he inherited in 2000 while the family expanded its control over the country's struggling economy Assad's attempts to appease discontent by lifting the emergency law while keeping the draconian powers of the secret police and the ruling Baath Party's monopoly on power have not stopped the protests.
    There were protests calling for political reform in Jordan during January and February, but the country has been largely free of the conflict seen elsewhere, following the sacking and replacement of the government by King Abdullah.
    END
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