(Hundreds of) Syrian women march to demand release of men held in security swoop

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Coastal highway between two cities blocked by women and children demonstrating against government crackdown
Haroon Siddique and agencies | Wednesday 13 April 2011 11.26 BST

Hundreds of Syrian women have marched along the country's main coastal highway to demand the release men seized from their hometown, human rights activists said.

Security forces, including secret police, stormed the town of Baida, going into houses and arresting hundreds of men after locals joined anti-government protests, according to the activists. Video showed a large crowd, most of them women, marching along the road leading to Turkey as they chanted: "We want the men of Baida."

Women demonstrated in support in the nearby Mediterranean city of Banias, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 350 men were arrested in Baida. An activist on Twitter put the number at 800 and said she would release the names of 111 of those detained soon.

A human rights lawyer in contact with people in the town told Reuters that security forces had arrested 200 residents in Baida, killing two people.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/syria-protests-women-block-road

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Related article from yesterday...

Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters

Witnesses claim soldiers who disobeyed orders in Banias were shot by security services as crackdown on protests intensifies
Katherine Marsh in Damascus | Tuesday 12 April 2011 18.50 BST

Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified.

Witnesses told al-Jazeera and the BBC that some soldiers had refused to shoot after the army moved into Banias in the wake of intense protests on Friday.

Human rights monitors named Mourad Hejjo, a conscript from Madaya village, as one of those shot by security snipers. "His family and town are saying he refused to shoot at his people," said Wassim Tarif, a local human rights monitor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3nveUVbSPk">Footage on YouTube shows an injured soldier saying he was shot in the back by security forces, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYIYHUJ9MOI">while another video shows the funeral of Muhammad Awad Qunbar, who sources said was killed for refusing to fire on protesters. Signs of defections will be worrying to Syria's regime. State media reported a different version of events, claiming nine soldiers had been killed in an ambush by an armed group in Banias.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/12/syrian-soldiers-shot-protest