8 slain in Syria protest

[UndertheOcean]

Source: Cnn

(CNN) -- At least eight people, including an 11-year-old boy, were killed outside the Syrian capital of Damascus by gunshots from security forces, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The incident occurred in Kanaker, according to the group's Rami Abdul-Rahman. The bloodshed follows days of violent government crackdowns on protests across the country, including the cities of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, and Douma.
The unrest in Syria began in mid-March after teens were arrested for writing anti-government graffiti in the southern city of Daraa. As the clashes intensified, demonstrators changed their demands, from calls for freedom and an end to abuses by the security forces to calls for the regime's overthrow.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/07/27/syria.unrest/

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:(

[joshcryer]

1. :(

Thanks for posting. Syria gets underreported.

[UndertheOcean]

3. thanks , I try my best in my spare time n/t

[pampango]

2. BBC: four tanks and a bulldozer entered Kanaker while 14 other tanks surrounded the town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14305762

Syrian security forces have killed at least eight people in a raid on the town of Kanaker near the capital, Damascus, rights groups say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said locals tried to block roads with burning tyres and threw stones to stop troops and tanks advancing.

The group said the raid took place after electricity and phone lines were cut off in the area.

President Bashar al-Assad has been using the army to suppress a popular revolt which first broke out in March. Each week different places become flashpoints as the opposition continues its campaign of street protests and the government tries to reassert control, our correspondent says.

Government forces are said to be intensifying their campaign ahead of Ramadan, when the opposition says it will launch daily demonstrations against the government.

The incredible bravery of the Syrian people in the face of Assad's tanks and troops is very impressive. The depth of their antipathy for Assad must be hard to measure.

[pampango]

4. Per Aljazeera the death toll in that town is now 11.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011727125157311914.html

At least 11 people have been killed when Syrian forces backed by tanks stormed a town near the capital Damascus, Syrian human rights campaigners said.

Citing witnesses, another rights group - the Syrian National Organisation for Human Rights, which is headed by Ammar Qurabi, an opposition figure - said military intelligence agents also arrested 300 people in the town and took them away in 11 buses.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian authorities who have expelled most foreign journalists from the country, making it difficult to verify witness accounts of events and official statements.

The crackdown came as two organisations in France threatened to file legal complaints against al-Assad and other members of the ruling Baath party in a bid to push the French government to investigate whether they own any assets in France. Sherpa and Transparency International France said in a statement on Tuesday that they want the government to make public all of its findings.