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Syrian forces disperse Kurdish rights demo
12.12.2005
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DAMASCUS, Dec 10
(AFP) - 20h36 - Syrian security forces on Saturday
dispersed a Kurdish protest in Damascus organized to
coincide with the UN-designated International Human
Rights Day, an AFP correspondent said.
The demonstration would have been larger but for a
last-minute decision to bow out by a coalition of
opposition groups whose spokesman was preparing to
face a court for "harming the reputation of the
state," a party official said.
Riot police broke up the sit-in by around 50 people
from three Kurdish political groups who had gathered
in central Damascus to call for recognition of human
rights and an end to emergency laws in Syria.
The demonstrators had asked for respect of "human
rights principles and a just and democratic solution
to the Kurdish question in the framework of Syria's
unity," said Aziz Dawi, a leader of the Democratic
Progressive Kurdish Party.
They also wanted Syrian authorities to "end
emergency law and accord civil liberties" to the
population, he said.
Kurds in Syria are estimated to number 1.5 million,
about nine percent of the population.
Around 200,000 Kurds have been denied Syrian
citizenship, which makes it difficult for them to
find work in the socialist, government-controlled
economy.
The National Democratic Rally (NDR), a coalition of
five disparate opposition parties which are banned
in Syria, on Friday cancelled plans to participate
in the annual sit-in.
The group had decided not to join the protest due to
"the situation affecting the country and external
pressures that are currently weighing on Syria,"
Dawi said.
Dawi also said the NDR supporters were "astonished
and denounced the decision to send NDR spokesman
Hassan Abdelazim before a military court."
Abdelazim is to appear before a state military court
on December 18 for distributing an information
bulletin published by the opposition coalition since
1991. He is accused of "harming the reputation of
the state."
The NDR, made up of groups as diverse as communists,
nationalists, liberals, Kurds and others drew up the
so-called "Damascus Declaration" in October,
inviting the Syrian people to work peacefully for
radical change.
The so-called "Damascus Declaration" called for the
installation of a democratic regime to "lift the
country out of the mold of the security state," and
was also signed by the London-based Muslim
Brotherhood.
The statement blamed the "authorities' monopoly of
everything for more than 30 years" for the faltering
"national social fabric of the Syrian people, an
economic collapse that poses a threat to the
country, and exacerbating crises of every kind."
Ruled by the powerful Baath party regime since 1963,
Syria is governed under emergency laws that grant
extra power to security forces and courts.
Most forms of political assembly are banned and
minority groups such as Kurds are frequently
arrested and jailed for allegedly attempting to
split up the country.
AFP
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