\nSYRIAN MILITARY ASSAULT AGAINST PROTESTERS MUST END\n<\/p>\n
\n25 April 2011\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Syrian government’s brutal reaction to its people’s
\ndemand for change has reached a new and outrageous low, Amnesty International
\nsaid today, as army tanks continued to shell residential areas in the southern
\ncity of Dera’a.\n<\/p>\n
\nAfter the Syrian army deployed in Dera’a early on Monday,
\ntanks were used to shell civilian buildings, sources told Amnesty
\nInternational.\n<\/p>\n
\n"By resorting to the use of artillery against its own
\npeople today, the Syrian government has shown its determination to crush the
\npeaceful protests at virtually any cost, whatever the price in Syrians’
\nlives," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North
\nAfrica Director.\n<\/p>\n
\n"President Bashar al-Assad must call a stop to this
\nnow. He must pull back his army from Dera’a immediately and ensure that basic
\nservices to the city are restored. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to
\nreach the victims of this latest totally unacceptable onslaught."\n<\/p>\n
\nAll water and electricity services have been cut off to the
\ntown, which has been at the centre of protests that have swept the country
\nsince mid-March and was where the first protesters were killed by security
\nforces.\n<\/p>\n
\nAmnesty International has received the names of 23 people
\nwho are reported to have died in today’s attack on Dera’a by the Syrian army,
\nbut the total number of dead is feared to be much higher. Many of the dead are
\nsaid to have been killed by shelling.\n<\/p>\n
\nGovernment snipers are also reported to have been deployed
\nand to have targeted those trying to assist wounded people lying in the
\nstreets, according to Amnesty International’s sources.\n<\/p>\n
\nSome dead bodies were left lying in the streets near the
\n‘Omari mosque and elsewhere as people were prevented from collecting them.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe army was also believed to be using similar heavy-handed
\ntactics in the Damascus suburb of al-Muadamiya and there were media reports of
\nfurther killings of protesters in Douma.\n<\/p>\n
\nAmnesty International believes that at least 393 people have
\nbeen killed by Syrian security forces since protests began five weeks ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n"This is a government that seems to be running scared
\nof its own people and their demands for political and other reform," said
\nMalcolm Smart.\n<\/p>\n
\n"The concessions offered by President al-Assad were too
\nlittle, too late for the protesters, and now the government seems intent on
\nreminding them of its true, repressive nature, in the hope that this will force
\nthem into submission. Yet this new brutality may simply serve to redouble the
\nprotesters’ determination to stand up and demand their rights."\n<\/p>\n