Syrians Call for Solidarity With Egypt

SMN No. 13, February 1, 2011

Syrian Facebook users are calling for public acts of solidarity with Egyptian demonstrators rallying against President Hosni Mubarak.

With initial calls to gather outside the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus, activists are now asking people to protest in Bab Touma Square, a crowed location popular with tourists.

The Facebook group announced that “for the unarmed people of Egypt who are trying to get rid of injustice and own freedom with their own hands, we will light candles in solidarity”.

Those behind the call are believed to be young and independent activists, unaffiliated with established groups.

The protests, which have had a large female attendance, have been confronted by heavy security and police presence and have been quickly dispersed. There has been, however, no harsh treatment or arrests among the protesters, although Syria’s emergency laws prohibit such demonstrations.

Several Syrian intellectuals have also recently issued a statement in solidarity with the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions,  published on January 29 on a number of opposition Syrian, Arabic and international sites and media , such as France24 and Elaph.

It was signed by some 40 Syrian intellectuals who announced that, “We salute the Tunisian people and their revolution and the uprising of the Egyptian people and their resistance to a corrupt and repressive regime.

“The Tunisian people were in one month able to bring down one of the Arab world’s most dictatorial and corrupt regimes…This revolution has shown Arabs how closely Tunisia resembles their own countries, where power and wealth are concentrated in the same hands, and where repression and the plundering of the public purse go hand-in-hand,” the statement continued.

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“Arab governments had rushed to offer limited social serv