Hundreds of Syrians protested Sunday in the southern city of Daraa, the cradle of their country’s revolt, against the erection of a statue of late President Hafez Assad.
Demonstrators and witnesses said residents walked through the war-ravaged old quarter of the city calling for his son and successor, Bashar Assad’s overthrow, days before the eighth anniversary of the start of the conflict.
“Syria is ours, not for the house of Assad,” protesters chanted as security forces closed off the area to stop residents from other parts of the city joining the demonstration, reported Reuters.
Daraa was where peaceful protests against 40 years of autocratic Assad family rule began in 2011, and were met by deadly force, before spreading across the country.
The Syrian regime, aided by Russian airpower and Iranian militias, retook control of Daraa from opposition forces in July.
But since then, residents of Daraa say disaffection has been growing as Assad’s secret police once more tighten their control and a campaign of arrests has sowed widespread fear.
The regime had given schools and regime employees a day off on Sunday to attend a pro-regime rally to inaugurate the new bronze statue of late president, erected on the site of the previous statue felled by protesters.
That rally broke up after gunfire from near the square caused panic among attendees, a witness said.
A group of youths protesting in Daraa’s old quarter carried a placard reading: “It will fall. Your statue is from the past, it’s not welcome here.”
Lawyer and activist Adnan Masalma said: “People have gathered without organization and to peacefully demonstrate over just demands.”
“The country has been destroyed and, instead of reconstruction, we place memorials,” read another protest placard.
The regime has reinstalled several large statues of the elder Assad after military victories that have seen his son regain most of the territory once held by the opposition.
Many residents in Daraa province complain that services have not been fully restored and that there are chronic power shortages, while many young men fear a campaign of military conscription.
