Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Massacri in Siria

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c4fc0330-560f-11e0-8de9-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1HXzs9Wjl
Thousands of people marched on Thursday in Deraa, southern Syria, where 
at least 44 people are thought to have been killed in a week of protests.
Angry crowds turned out for the latest funerals amid a huge security 
presence.
Most of the deaths appear to have been on Wednesday. Witnesses said 
protesters were gunned down in the streets, and that the Omari mosque 
was stormed in the early morning.
However, Buthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Bashar 
al-Assad, told reporters that the president had not ordered the security 
forces to fire on protesters.
Ms Shaaban has also said that a committee will be formed to consider 
raising living standards and scrapping the emergency law.
Hospital officials in Deraa, reported receiving 37 bodies, according to 
Reuters news agency. Several funerals had already been held after 
security forces cracked down on protests inspired by the uprisings 
sweeping the Arab world.
Human rights groups have suggested that the death count could be as high 
as 100, although this has been impossible to verify.
Nadim Houry, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said security forces had 
shown a “criminal disregard for the lives of their fellow citizens”.
Activists in Syria said the Ba’athist regime, which has held power since 
1963, appeared determined to crush the protests – as it had done with 
previous demonstrations. An uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood in the 
northern city of Hama in 1982 was brutally suppressed by Hafez al-Assad, 
the late president, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Under his 
son, the current president, a crackdown on a 2004 Kurdish uprising in 
Qamishli, in the north-east, left dozens dead.
Arrests have been stepped up in recent days. Reuters reported that Mazen 
Darwish, a leading rights activist, had been held. But the government is 
also trying to appear conciliatory.
Ms Shaaban said the demands of Deraa’s people were “justified” and under 
consideration. “The coming period will witness important decisions on 
all levels,” she said, without elaborating.
Protesters’ demands have so far focused on greater freedoms and an end 
to corruption, as well as the removal of local administrative figures.
The Syrian state news service SANA confirmed on Thursday that the 
governor of Deraa, Faisal Kolthoum, has been removed from his post by 
presidential decree.
Observers said a combination of ruthless repression and apparent 
attempts at dialogue reflected rifts at the highest levels of the 
government.
“It’s very clear now there is a struggle under way inside the regime,” 
said Ayman Abdul Nour, a dissident former Ba’ath party member living in 
Dubai, who knew President Assad before his exile.
“The first faction wants direct action, as we have seen, and the second 
wants to support reasonable demands.”
Mr Abdul Nour said the president, who he knew before his exile, would 
not be taking sides.
A businessman in Damascus with close links to the regime said the 
authorities were extremely nervous about developments in Deraa.
Protesters have called for big demonstrations on Friday.
It was unclear whether the demonstrations would spread beyond Deraa and 
its surrounding region. So far, only small protests have been reported 
in Damascus and other big cities.
-- 
Namib
"I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis"
(ultime parole di Humphrey Bogart)

 at least 44 people are thought to have been killed in a week of protests.
Sarkozy quando parte?
-- 
"Puoi prendere in giro te stesso, o qualche poverino senza
cervello, uno dei tanti che circolano qui. Ma con me ti
conviene cambiare tattica, credimi." (Radicale)