Protesters are angry with Assad’s government over rising prices, power outages, food and fuel shortages.
At least two people have been killed, including a policeman, when protesters in the southern Syrian city of Sweida stormed a provincial government building in a rare anti-government protest over rising prices and other economic hardship.
The activist media group Suwayda 24 and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, confirmed the two deaths on Sunday and said four people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds in the Druze majority city.
Suwayda24 posted footage on social media showing dozens of protesters calling for the downfall of the regime as security forces stood guard outside the building.
Other images showed a military vehicle on fire and burning tires on the city’s main streets.
“There is a large deployment of security forces in the area and shots can still be heard,” Rayan Maalouf, who heads the Suwayda 24 collective, told The Associated Press.
Protesters reportedly toppled portraits of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad [File: SANA/Handout via Reuters]
The Syrian interior minister said in a statement that the people who stormed the building were armed and destroyed furniture, broke windows and looted archives. The statement said a “group of outlaws” killed a policeman while trying to storm police headquarters.
State television said “criminals” had stormed the provincial government building and “set fire to official documents and files”.
Rare anti-government protest
Anti-government demonstrations are rare in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad ended a pro-democracy uprising more than a decade ago. Nearly half a million people have died and half the country’s population has been displaced since a peaceful uprising in 2011 turned into a bloody war.
Assad has survived, but the conflict has plunged Syria into poverty. Its people also face food and energy shortages.
Although Sweida province, which borders Jordan, has largely been spared the worst of the war, tensions have been simmering between residents and the Assad regime, with protests against corruption in recent years.
Syria’s economy has been hit by both its long war and Western sanctions against Damascus, and the value of the Syrian pound has plummeted.
People clash with security forces during a protest in Sweida in this screenshot taken from a social media video [Suwayda 24/via Reuters]
Sweida and other cities have been hard hit by nationwide electricity rationing and chronic fuel shortages that severely affect daily life. The government announced more austerity measures in recent days, including more electricity rationing.
Ninety percent of the population now lives below the poverty line and 12.4 million people do not have enough to eat, according to the United Nations.
In February, hundreds of people protested in Sweida to demand better living conditions and a democratic government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at the time. Smaller protests were held there in 2020.
Nashaat al-Atrash, a Druze lawmaker in the Syrian Parliament, condemned the protesters for storming the provincial building and called for calm.
“All of Syria is going through an economic crisis,” he told Syrian television Al-Ikhbaria, claiming that outside forces could be trying to stoke tensions through the demonstrations.
Syrians demonstrate against poor economic conditions in Sweida. in a rare anti-government protest [Suwayda 24/via Reuters]