- Title: EGYPT: Protesters call on Arab League to suspend Syria
- Date: 13th November 2011
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 12, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ARAB LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS ARAB LEAGUE FLAG FLYING OVER BUILDING PROTESTERS OUTSIDE ARAB LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS AS DELEGATE FROM ARAB COUNTRY ARRIVES WITH POLICE ESCORT PROTESTERS SHOUTING AT PASSING CONVOY POLICE IN FRONT OF PROTESTERS HOLDING UP BANNER WITH PICTURE OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD WITH A CROSS THR
- Embargoed: 28th November 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt, Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA19FGBRMOXQ5VTBV03UW2ASYAL
- Story Text: Opponents of the Syrian government protested outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday (November 12), the day that members of the organisation were to discuss Syrian President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on dissidents.
Several dozen protesters gathered to demand that Syria be suspended from the body that represents 22 Arab states, as League ministers arrived for an emergency session on Syria.
The protesters chanted slogans calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's demise.
One poster called for the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Syria, after the move arguably proved decisive in the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
One demonstrator, Dia Deen Dirmash, said that it was time for the Arab League to take action.
"I am here to demand that the Arab League suspend the Syrian regime's membership, this regime which is murderous and criminal and which has killed more than 5,000 martyrs taking part in a revolution for freedom and dignity, when all they were doing is demanding freedom from a regime that has been ruling Syria for forty years during which tens of thousands of innocent people have died in their prisons," he said.
The United Nations says more than 3,500 lives have been lost in the Syrian unrest over the past eight months. Syrian security forces reportedly killed another 20 people on Friday (November 11).
Under an Arab League plan agreed on November 2, Syria pledged to pull the military out of restive cities, free political prisoners and start talks with the opposition.
Since then, security forces have killed more than 100 people in the Syrian city of Homs, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued on Friday.
Human Rights watch has backed the call to suspend Syria, and has said that the United Nations should impose sanctions on those responsible for the violence and refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Assad, from the minority Alawite community which has held power for four decades in mainly Sunni Muslim Syria, has said he has used legitimate means to confront a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None