JORDAN: Activists, artists show support for anti-Assad movement at Amman exhibition.

Record ID: 280588

  • Title: JORDAN: Activists, artists show support for anti-Assad movement at Amman exhibition.
  • Date: 13th February 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMAD ETRI, EXHIBITION ORGANISER, SAYING: "This exhibition is a simple portrayal of the massacres that are being committed by the regime. From pictures to caricature to mass graves - this exhibition is a representation of the suffering that our people are going through on inside Syria. We wanted to expose this to the world despite the media blackout
  • Embargoed: 28th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan, Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVAG9J49HM2Y26URCUJLOS7QVFF
  • Story Text: Artists and anti-Assad activists put on an exhibition in the Jordanian capital Amman hoping to highlight the current situation in Syria.
    Syrian artists and anti-Assad activists put on an exhibition of amateur art work in the Jordanian capital, Amman, hoping to draw attention to the current situation in Syria.
    From depictions of mass graves to torture chambers and bombardment of residential areas, the art on display is a show of many Syrian's determination to protest Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
    The amateur exhibition, named 'The Birth of Freedom and Labour of Revolution', opened on Friday Feb.10.
    According to organiser Mohammad Etri, the exhibition is a representation of what is happening to the Syrian people within Syria at the moment.
    "This exhibition is a simple portrayal of the massacres that are being committed by the regime. From pictures to caricature to mass graves - this exhibition is a representation of the suffering that our people are going through on inside Syria. We wanted to expose this to the world despite the media blackout that is currently taking place in Syria and despite the country's refusal to allow human rights groups in. We want these voices from inside Syria to be heard externally and we want to expose this regime and it's massacres - this regime that has persistently drawn the blood of Syrians ," said Etri, from the northern city of Hama.
    Following the collapse of the Arab League observer's mission, Syrian authorities have intensified their crackdown on anti-Assad protesters.
    Syrian forces have bombarded districts of the city of Homs over the past week including Baba Amro and al-Khalidya, in their drive to crush a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, whose ally Russia said it would not support an Arab peace plan circulating at the United Nations.
    Hundreds are believed to have been killed in Homs and other restive cities over the past week and many are believed to still be under the rubble.
    Visitors said the exhibition will help expose practices of the Syrian regime.
    "These exhibitions are a most important media tool which informs people, who have no idea, about the massacres of the regime during the 40 years of it's rule. We hope that such exhibitions continue and are held in different cities," said Rafi, a Syrian national living in Jordan.
    The exhibition includes a corner which mocks the Syrian leadership, with one part showing the grand mufti of Syria as a monkey hanged from tree.
    Another section focuses on torture methods believed to be adopted by Syrian security forces against activists.
    "Of course, without doubt, this is - as some have called it- the media's revolution and this exhibition is part of that. It has a major role in documenting the crimes of this regime; crimes which our country has committed within the country that not even our most fierce enemies have committed against us," said Ahmed Kanaan, a Syrian living in Saudi Arabia.
    Opposition to Assad has evolved from pro-democracy street protests to armed insurrection over the past 11 months.
    World powers fear a slide into civil war with knock-on effects for Syria's neighbours - Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.
    Gulf Arab states, the United States, Europe and Turkey hope diplomacy can force Assad out and have ruled out military action of the kind that helped oust Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.
    So far, Assad has been able to count on the support of Russia, Syria's main arms supplier and an ally dating back to the Soviet era, as well as Iran. Moscow, which is keen to counter U.S. influence in the Middle East, insists foreign powers should not interfere.
    The U.N. assembly is due to discuss Syria on Monday (February 13) and vote later in the week on the draft resolution, which "fully supports" an Arab League plan floated last month.
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