Syria removes police chief of restive city

The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing sources in Damascus, named the
officer as Amjad Abbas. Security forces had sealed off the city last weeked
after demonstrations against President Bashar Assad and an attack by irregular
forces loyal to Assad on people guarding a mosque.
Inspired
by uprisings across the Arab world, demonstrators have taken to the streets for
more than a month demanding greater freedoms, undaunted by a security
crackdown.
Rights
groups, which say more than 200 have been killed since the unrest started a
month ago, have called for independent investigations into the actions of
security forces.
The
latest move seemed another attempt to mollify protesters, who rejected appeals
by authorities to stop demonstrating and ignored a concession by the government
which approved legislation on Tuesday to end the state of emergency in force
for the last 48 years.
The
Observatory said Banias residents had identified Abbas, the fired officer, as
one of the security officers seen beating a villager in the nearby town of
Baida, according to a video.
Along
with the bill on emergency law, the newly appointed Cabinet also approved
legislation that requires Syrians to seek permission from the state before they
demonstrate.
Hours
earlier, the Interior Ministry had called on citizens to refrain from
protesting at all. Activists said the ministry statement and the fact that
authorities on Tuesday night arrested a leftist opposition figure suggested the
government’s move to lift emergency law will not halt repression.
Defiant
protests continued overnight, including in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani
where protesters called for freedom and for the “downfall of the regime,” the
rallying cry of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
There
were also sit-ins in Jabla on the coast, a women’s rally in Barzeh in Damascus,
and a candlelight procession in Tel near the capital overnight.
In Homs,
soldiers and irregular forces loyal to Assad dressed in black patrolled the
route between two central squares, witnesses said. Shops stayed closed in
protest over 20 pro-democracy protesters shot dead by security forces in the
city since Monday, they said.
In
Syria’s second city, Aleppo, Assad’s irregular forces broke up a small
demonstration at the city’s university, beating several students and arresting
37, a rights activist said.
The US
State Department said the new law requiring permits to hold demonstrations made
it unclear if the end of emergency rule would make for a less restrictive
government.
A
semi-official newspaper quoted an official source saying Assad would issue the
decrees confirming the government decisions, which also include the dissolving
of supreme state security court, on Wednesday.
The
official added, contrary to statements last month, that there would be no new
anti-terrorism legislation to replace emergency laws.
“Articles
specific to terrorism crimes are already provided for in the Syrian general law
on punishment.”
Prominent
leftist Mahmoud Issa was taken from his house in Homs around midnight by
members of Syria’s political security division, rights campaigner said.
Civic
figures in Homs, a central city known for its intellectuals and artists, signed
a declaration calling on the army “not to spill the blood of honorable Syrians”
and denying official allegations that Salafist groups were operating there.
In a sign
of resistance to protesters’ demands for reforms, the Interior Ministry on
Monday night described the unrest as an insurrection by “armed groups belonging
to Salafist organizations” trying to terrorize the population.
Salafism
is a strict form of Islam that many Arab governments equate with militant
groups like Al-Qaeda.
Analysts
said authorities are keen to prevent protesters gaining a visible focal point
like Egypt’s Tahrir square.
“There
must be no more slaughter. Syria’s president must take firm action now to stop
the bloody crackdown by his security forces and ensure that those responsible
for it are held to account,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s
director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Emergency
rule, in place since the Baath Party seized power in a 1963 coup, gave security
organs blanket power to stifle dissent through a ban on gatherings of over five
people, arbitrary arrest and closed trials, lawyers say.
Syria is
involved in several Middle East conflicts. Any change at the top — Assad,
backed by his family and the security apparatus, is Syria’s absolute ruler —
would ripple across the Arab world and affect Syria’s ally Iran.
The
leadership backs the Hamas movement and Lebanon’s Hezbollah but seeks peace
with Israel. Assad was largely rehabilitated in the West after years in
isolation after the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik Hariri.