The pardon, the second of its kind in three weeks, includes anyone who committed crimes until June 20, the state news agency SANA said. Assad’s effort to drown out pro-democracy protests exploded into clashes between government supporters and opponents Tuesday. It was the latest deadly turn in a 3-month-old uprising.
In an attempt to blunt the uprising’s momentum, tens of thousands of regime supporters converged on squares in several major cities on Tuesday, shouting, “The people want Bashar Assad!” and releasing black, white and red balloons — colors of the Syrian flag.
They soon clashed with opposition supporters, drawing in security forces. At a main square in the central city of Hama, security personnel opened fire on anti-regime protesters, killing a 13-year-old boy, said the local coordinating committees, which track the Syrian protest movement. Three other people were reported killed in Homs and three in the Mayadin district in Deir El-Zour.
The pro- and anti-Assad sides have fought each other in the past, but Tuesday’s bloodshed appeared to be the worst such violence. “We are seeing an escalation by authorities today,” said Omar Idilbi, spokesman for the committees. “They are sending pro-government thugs along with soldiers to attack protesters.”
The unending government repression and bloodshed appeared to be driving even Russia, a longtime Syria backer, to distance itself from Assad, as international pressure mounts for him to accept major political change.
“We need to apply pressure on the leadership of any country where massive unrest, and especially bloodshed, is happening,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Paris.
“In the modern world it is impossible to use political instruments of 40 years ago,” Putin said of the Syrians’ tactics.
