Middle East
Syrian legislators quit over crackdown
Two MPs resign from parliament as outrage at government's violent response to
pro-democracy protests spreads.
Last Modified: 23 Apr 2011 16:42
Two Syrian legislators have resigned their posts in parliament as outrage grows
over the security force's crackdown on anti-government protests.
Nasser al-Hariri and Khalil al-Rifaei, independent MPs who represent the city
of Daraa, where scores of protesters have been killed, both separately told Al
Jazeera on Saturday that they were resigning over the killings of demonstrators.
"I feel sorry for those who were killed in Houran today and yesterday by the
bullets of security forces, despite the fact that the president has promised no
live ammunition by security forces at all," al-Hariri said.
He was referring to the deaths of protesters a day earlier when security forces
opened fire on mourners at a funeral procession.
"Being an MP I feel the need to step down, as long as I am unable to protect
the voters killed by live ammunition and so I feel better to resign," he said.
Al-Rifaei said: "I convey my condolence to the people of Houran and the Syrian
people. The Syrian people and the of Houran voted for me to be a member of
parliament and now I can't protect them anymore."
Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid, the government-appointed mufti for Syria's Daraa,
which has been a focal point for pro-democracy protests, also resigned on
Saturday in protest at the killing of demonstrators by security forces.
More than 220 protesters have been killed since protests against the government
of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, erupted on March 18 in Daraa, rights
campaigners say.
Mourners targeted
Al-Rifaei told Al Jazeera that a "political solution" to the unrest was needed.
Security forces continued to crack down on tens of thousands of protesters on
Saturday, mainly at funerals for demonstrators killed in previous violence.
Map of April 22 'Great Friday' protests across Syria
At least four people were killed in the Damascus suburb of Douma, a witness
told Al Jazeera, after security forces on the ground and snipers on rooftops
opened fire on a crowd of mourners.
Eyewitness in Douma on Saturday said that the gunfire erupted during the
funeral processions, a day after eight people were killed and at least 25
injured in an attack on protesters.
Snipers took up positions on the top of a Baath Party building near the
privately-run Hamdan Hospital, where residents had overnight formed a human
shield around the main gate, in order to prevent security forces from arresting
those who were injured and being treated inside.
Elsewhere, at least three people were killed in the neighbourhood of Barza at a
mass funeral of pro-democracy protesters killed a day earlier
"We have been receiving many calls from people in different places in Syria.
Probably the most dramatic are the ones from the neighbourhood of Berza," Rula
Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Damascus, said.
"Today, during the funerals, people say the security forces shot at them again
... there is a state of panic.
"They say there are gunmen on the streets and they are randomly shooting at
people."
'Long live Syria'
Outside of the capital, six people are thought to have been killed as security
force opened fire on people seeking to join mass funerals in the southern
village of Izraa, where witnesses said at least 12 funerals were taking place.
Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage
Mourners there were heard chanting: "Bashar al-Assad, you traitor! Long live
Syria, down with Bashar!"
A special correspondent for Al Jazeera, reporting from just outside Izraa and
who cannot be named for security reasons, confirmed that he had witnessed a
funeral procession being fired upon.
"[People marching on an overpass] were met with a hail of gunfire, many people
certainly wounded directly in front of us, cars turned around, and I can tell
you it was an incredibly chaotic scene, and it seems as though pretty much
everyone down here in the southern part of the country is now carrying
weapons," he said.
"It is unclear who was firing at whom, that's part of the confusion ... but
clearly a very violent incident now being carried out here in the south of the
country."
Syrian state television has reported that the security forces are responding to
clashes between the protesters and supporters of the government.
State media says that most of the killings have been the result of these
clashes.
Condemnation
World powers have called on Syria to end the violence, with Barack Obama, the
US president, telling Syria its crackdown on protesters "must come to an end
now".
"This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,"
Obama said.
"Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders
while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the
same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies."
Syria responded angrily to Obama's comments, saying they lacked objectivity.
"Syria regrets the statement released by the American president on the subject
of the situation in Syria, because it is not based on an objective vision of
the reality on the ground," an unidentified official was quoted by the
state-run SANA news agency as saying.
The latest security crackdowns follow widespread demonstrations on Friday that
have been termed the "Great Friday" protests. The day was also the bloodiest so
far.
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, said that at least
75 people were killed in the government's crackdown on Friday.
Syrian activists sent Al Jazeera a list naming 103 people from across the
country who they said had been killed by security forces on Friday.
Al-Assad appeared to make some concession to the protesters on Thursday,
signing a decree that lifted Syria's emergency law, but the move is seen by the
opposition as little more than symbolic, since other laws still give entrenched
security forces wide powers.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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