Syrians Protest on “Defiance Day”, Government Sends Military to the City of Baniyas

Syrian Protests (workingshirt.com)

Thousands of Syrians have gathered on Friday in major cities and small towns all across the country in what they called „Friday of Defiance” to protest the government and demand reforms.

The people defied the security apparatus deployed by the government to crack down on any protest, one of the most impressive such demonstration of force in the region that has been restive since the beginning of the year.

Security forces are reported to have fired on demonstrators in the city of Hama, in central Syria, and on people in the towns at the outskirts of the capital city of Damascus.

Syrian Protests (effinhome.blogspot.com)

Six people were reported killed and another 17 were wounded on Friday.

According to the reports of the human rights activists, the death toll had reached 26 on Saturday.

The government has mobilized the army in an attempt to quiet the unrest in the country, calling in the military to arrest thousands of people.

In spite of these precautions, people showed up on Friday even in places where the military had placed tanks or armored cars.

On April 25, the military occupied Daraa, the city where the first protests started, and left only on Thursday, when armored columns were seen departing the city.

The people in the streets of Baniyas were reported on Friday carrying olive branches and white roses to give the soldiers in case they entered town, but they didn’t by Friday afternoon.

The troops entered the city on Saturday, with tanks and naval patrols circling the city on the ground and by sea.

Syrian protests begun in January, and were inspired by what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. On Wednesday, the ruling force of Gaza, Hamas, supported by the Syrian regime, signed a reconciliation agreement with Fatah, that rules in West Bank. Israelis consider this is mainly because of the situation in Syria.