Middle East: Syrian Protesters Mark Six Months Since Uprising

Deaths and arrests reported as activists call for mass protests to mark six months since start of uprising.

Syrian security forces have continued to crack down on dissent, as protesters vowed to hit the streets en masse to mark six months since the beginning of an anti-government uprising in March.

The planned protests against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, on Thursday follow another day of killings, with human rights activists saying security forces shot dead eight people, including a child, in a huge sweep against anti-government protesters in northwestern Syria.

"Six months. More than ever determined to [continue] the March 15 uprising," activists wrote on the Facebook page for The Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the main online organisers for the protesters.

Armed with heavy machine guns, security forces cut off roads leading to the Jabal al-Zawiya villages of Baliun, Marayan, Ihsem, Al-Rami and Ablin, setting up checkpoints and arresting several people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Wednesday.

Four people were killed and dozens more wounded in the operation, activists said, adding that 100 people were arrested including the family of Riad al-Assad, a soldier who had earlier defected. The United Nations says a total of 2,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during the government's crackdown since the start of the uprising in March. Opposition activists put the death toll at more than 3,000.

Activists and protestors in the Middle East are now using social media and a trend of violence and disruption is emerging with Yemen now violently attacking its leaders and government. This is not the way to create peace in a country and actually breeds hatred, ignorance and intolerance in a nation.

The Holy Quran describes such people saying:

And when it is said to them: ‘Create not disorder on the earth,’ they say: ‘We are only promoters of peace.’ Beware! it is surely they who create disorder, but they do not perceive it. [Holy Quran, 2:12-13]

As these citizens engaging in protests are Muslims, they should follow the teachings of their Prophet (on whom be peace) who said:

“After me you will see injustice, rights suppressed and others given preference over you. You will see matters that you will disapprove of”. When asked what the commandment was in such circumstances, the Prophet (on whom be peace) replied, “pay their (leaders) rights to them and ask God for your rights.”


The Ahmadiyya Post, Middle East. By Zubair Ahmed. Sept 15, 2011