Syrian Protesters Mock Cease-Fire and U.N. Observers
Demonstrations erupted across Syria on Friday, with some of the protesters’ anger focused on the United Nations observers, who have decided that they will not circulate on Fridays, the normal day for mass rallies that are suppressed by the government.
Despite an ostensible cease-fire, violence flared across the country, with a roadside bomb killing 10 soldiers in the south, according to the state-run news, while YouTube videos posted from the devastated city of Homs showed flames and intense black smoke after government shelling of a downtown residential neighborhood.
Col. Ahmed Himmiche, the Moroccan officer heading the advance team of United Nations observers in Syria, was quoted as telling reporters in Damascus that they would avoid Friday patrols, a statement that undermined the group’s already threadbare credibility with many who have experienced the brunt of government oppression. “We don’t want to be used as a tool for escalating the situation,” he said.
Those remarks were met with some disbelief, particularly in Damascus, where anti-government protesters said they faced arrest, bullets, tear gas and a wide deployment of government security forces to suppress their demonstrations — all violations of the supposed cease-fire plan. One point of the six-point peace plan negotiated under United Nations auspices is that Syrians be allowed to demonstrate freely.
“I have no hope in the monitors — if they don’t tour on Fridays, why did they come to Syria?” said Yaser, 30, a protester in Jober, not far from downtown Damascus where an attack by government thugs injured demonstrators. “For us nothing is changed — we are demonstrating, the Assad forces are killing and the monitors are watching. It is a long Mexican drama.” (Dubbed Mexican soap operas involving many episodes are a staple of satellite television.)
Demonstrators in Homs, which has endured more than two months of shelling, were more sarcastic. At the beginning of every video from a demonstration, someone off camera held up a piece of paper indicating the place and the date.