Demonstrations continued, for the fourth day in a row, in Syria's Sweida, under the slogan “We want to live”, protesting high prices and the deterioration of living conditions.
Facebook page “Suwayda 24” reported citizens marching the streets of Sweida governorate protesting the economic conditions and corruption, demanding an improvement in living standards.
Citizens gathered outside the governorate building center of Sweida, among which were young men and women, as well as children, according to the page.
They also raised banners denouncing the collapse of the pound, and demanded price control and that the corrupt be held to account.
The page indicated that the protesters asserted their peaceful movement, without any political references or chants. It also displayed a video of demonstrators protesting in front of the “Syriatel” building that was owned by businessman Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of President Bashar al-Assad.
On Friday, demonstrators swarmed the streets of Shahba city, north of Sweida, raising loaves of bread and shouting “We want to live.”
Meanwhile, the exchange rate of the dollar on the black market in Damascus Saturday evening closed at SYP1200 against the dollar, after it had reached SYP1300 Friday, which hindered the market movement completely, amid government silence.
The rapid deterioration in the exchange rate of the Syrian lira was accompanied each time by a new wave of increase in the prices of most basic commodities.
The prices increased more than 22 times since the beginning of the war, or by 2400 percent.
The average salaries and wages of public servants range between $20 and $40 per month, and in the private sector between $100 and $130 per month, while an individual needs more than $100 to cover basic needs, as studies show that over 93 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line.
A number of civil sources from Sweida told Asharq Al-Awsat that the main reason for people going out in the demonstrations is poverty because the employee's salary barely covers the first few days of the month.
Unlikely for SANA, the state-owned news agency reported the first day of the demonstrations saying a group of people protested the living conditions, however, it didn’t cover the rest of protests for the following days.
In the same context, the Syrian President issued a legislative decree Saturday increasing the punishment for transacting in foreign currencies to seven years of hard labor.
“The decree forbids the use of anything other than the Syrian Pound as a payment means for any type of commercial transaction.”
The punishment was increased from up to three years detention to seven years of hard labor, as well as a fine, the statement said.
Alongside the use of foreign currencies, the punishment would also be applied to transactions paid in precious metals, it said.
Assad also increased fines for circulating information that seeks “to undermine confidence in the strength of the country’s currency”, the presidency said.
The Syrian Ministry of the Interior had warned in a statement on Friday against transacting in foreign currencies in commercial circulation and vowed to pursue manipulators with exchange rates against foreign currencies.
The ministry affirmed that it will intensify its patrols to monitor companies, shops, and people, in an attempt to suppress manipulation attempts and arrest violators, calling on citizens to cooperate with it to “combat economic crimes that affect the life of the citizen.”
The value of the Syrian pound plummeted over the past two months, coinciding with the imposition of a package of economic sanctions on the government of the Syrian regime by the US and Western countries.
