STORY about Peace/War posted on May 7, 2011 by isaac
Still in the Struggle
Weekly demonstrations continue in solidarity with ongoing rebellions in Libya and Syria
Also posted by isaac:
Also in Peace/War:
About fifty members of the Syrian and Libyan communities in Vancouver together with supporters gathered today at the Vancouver Public Library to continue to show their support and solidarity with popular resistance movements in the Middle East.
"Since February 17th we've been here every Saturday," said Huda Al Tayar, as the crowd on the steps behind her chanted in Arabic and in English.
"We're waiting particularly for Ghaddafi to get out or to get killed," she said, noting that at this point 70 per cent of Libya is rebel held. Misratah is complicated but the people are still struggling, she said, and those in Tripoli are facing a very difficult situation. "The capital city is a big struggle," said Al Tayar. "There are 17,000 men in jail, so the ladies are doing the work now."
Since April 17th, members of Vancouver's Syrian community have been sharing the microphone at the Saturday afternoon demonstrations with their Libyan allies. "Everyone is afraid of their relatives facing retaliation," said Riam, who asked that his last name not be used to avoid repercussions for his family in Syria. "But this is a great rally, because we've managed to break the fear," he said.
The demands of the Syrians echo those of their Libyan counterparts: they want the bloodshed to end, a withdrawal of the national army and elite backed paramilitaries, the release of all political prisoners, and an end to the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.
Since March, over 600 Syrians have been killed and more than 7000* detained and tortured, added Riam, who said the latest killings, of four women, took place this morning in the city of Banyas.
Demonstrators also held signs demanding the safe release of Dorothy Parvaz, a journalist working for Al Jazeera who has been detained by the Syrian regime since April 29th. Parvaz spent part of her youth in Vancouver, and graduated from the University of British Columbia.
*An error in the original stated 700 political prisoners in Syria, the correct number is 7,000. This is a significant discrepancy and we regret the error.
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Comments
canadians / americans
cultural differances,intellagence,life style,have deterriorated in america ,while canada has mostly held to its finer points in terms of quality people ! The stigma associated with muslims in america by most americans is shameful, how an entire nation usa can be so steriotyped and ego driven is mystery ! Special interest groups rule in america ,democracy is but a front for concealing power control, it is more than likely that ww3 will be inevitable even desired in order to arrest the ever preditory jewish takeover !!!