Violent Clashes as Thousands Protest in Cities Across Syria

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/middleeast/18syria.html

Violent Clashes as Thousands Protest in Cities Across Syria

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: June 17, 2011

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of protesters poured into the streets in the suburbs

of Damascus, Syria, and in three of the country's five largest cities on Friday,

in a weekly show of defiance that came days before President Bashar al-Assad was

expected to address Syrians for the first time in two months. Activists said at

least 19 people were killed and dozens wounded.

Security forces fired on protesters in Homs, one of Syria's most restive

locales, and the police and protesters fought in Deir al-Zour, a large city in

the east. But thousands were permitted to demonstrate in Kiswa, a town south of

Damascus, where demonstrators carried banners that read, " Leave! " and " The

people want the fall of the regime. "

Some opposition figures had speculated that the government might try to bring

down a death toll that surged past 100 on one Friday in anticipation of Mr.

Assad's speech, which may come as early as Sunday. Syrian officials have

portrayed the address as significant, though many in the opposition said their

expectations were low.

As the day wore on, the toll approached 22, the number killed last Friday.

" We want freedom and dignity but not under President Bashar, " said a 30-year-old

farmer in Kiswa who gave his name as Abdel-Rahman. " He keeps promising for three

months on reforms but all we see is more killing and suffering. "

The government's crackdown has forced nearly 10,000 refugees across the northern

border with Turkey and, on Friday, its repercussions spilled into Lebanon, where

rival groups clashed after a protest against Mr. Assad in the northern city of

Tripoli.

Three people were killed there, including an off-duty soldier, the police said.

The clash erupted in a part of Tripoli that has often witnessed trouble between

Sunni Muslims and Alawites, a minority heterodox sect that serves as the

backbone of Mr. Assad's rule.

The crackdown has brought international condemnation of a leadership that has

ruled Syria for more than four decades. Diplomats have spoken of growing

pressure on Mr. Assad, who has taken steps that have so far proved largely

superficial, and Syrian officials have suggested that a more serious dialogue

may ensue with opposition figures.

On Thursday, in a symbolic but humiliating episode, the country's richest

businessman, Rami Makhlouf, a reviled cousin of Mr. Assad, was forced to

announce that he would devote himself to charity and avoid any new deals that

brought him profit.

" You can't do charity with the millions you stole from us, " read a banner

carried by hundreds of demonstrators on Friday in Zabadani, a town on the

outskirts of Damascus, the capital.

Since the start of the uprising in mid-March, the government and opposition have

cast it in a different light. At times, government officials have acknowledged

some of the protesters' demands as legitimate, while insisting that armed groups

have hijacked the movement. The opposition says the government is exaggerating

the threat posed by armed groups and contends that the demonstrations are

overwhelmingly peaceful.

Syrian state television said a policeman was killed and more than 20 were

wounded when armed groups opened fire on them. It said six police officers were

also wounded when gunmen attacked a police station in Deir al-Zour. Nawaf

al-Bashir, an opposition figure in the city, said security forces killed two

civilians there and wounded nine people.

The government has barred most foreign journalists from reporting in Syria, and

it was almost impossible to reconcile the typically contradictory accounts.

Activists said the worst violence on Friday occurred in Homs, Syria's third

largest city and a center of the uprising, and the province of Idlib, a

conservative Sunni Muslim region in the north that military forces have sought

to return to the government's control.

Activists said protests also occurred at the university in Aleppo and in other

parts of the city, Syria's second largest and a linchpin for the government's

durability. So far, the city has remained relatively quiescent, but activists

said one protester had been killed there.

On the Turkish border, 200 refugees living in a makeshift tent city staged their

own protest against the government, raising a banner that read " We hate you: Get

away " and chanting " The people want the fall of the regime, " a cry voiced across

the Arab world. Scores of children participated, waving branches plucked from

the trees.

There were conflicting reports about the posture of the Syrian military, which

has deployed to town after restive town. Some activists said that, in contrast

to past weeks, the military did not participate in the crackdown on Friday,

leaving the task to security forces and paramilitaries. Mr. Bashir said they had

withdrawn from Deir al-Zour, where they had deployed just last week. Other

activists said that they remained there and that additional military forces had

begun an assault on the town of Dael, in southern Syria.