Syrian opposition vows to 'break the regime'

Activists say democratic transition will safeguard the country from "a period of violence, chaos and civil war". Last Modified: 27 Apr 2011 09:35 Video

Syrian opposition figures have said their "massive grassroots revolution" will break the regime unless Bashar al-Assad, the president, leads a transition to democracy. The statement on Wednesday from an umbrella group of opposition activists in Syria and abroad, called the National Initiative for Change, said a democratic transition will "safeguard the nation from falling into a period of violence, chaos and civil war." "If the Syrian president does not wish to be recorded in history as a leader of this transition period, there is no alternative left for Syrians except to move forward along the same path as did the Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans before them," the statement said. The opposition in Syria is getting more organised as anti-government protests gain strength, but it is stilll fragmented. Meanwhile, witnesses said troops had poured into the Damascus suburb of Douma overnight and were also deployed around the coastal city of Baniyas. White buses brought in hundreds of soldiers in full combat gear into Douma, a witness told Reuters news agency. Pro-democracy protesters have tried to march from the suburb into the centre of the capital in the last two weeks but have been dispersed by security forces. More than 2,000 security police deployed in Douma on Tuesday, manning checkpoints and checking identity cards to arrest pro-democracy sympathisers, the witness, a former soldier, said. He said he saw several lorries in the streets equipped with heavy machine guns and members of the plainclothes secret police carrying assault rifles. He believed the soldiers to be Republican Guards, among the units most loyal to Bashar al-Assad, the president. Diplomats said Assad had sent the Fourth Mechanised Division, commanded by his brother Maher, into the city. Death toll mounting Late on Tuesday, the state news agency SANA reported the army "continued to chase armed groups and extremists in Deraa who attacked military positions, cut off roads and forced passers-by to stop so they could hit them." Sawasiah, a Syrian human rights organisation, said electricity, water and telecommunications were cut in Deraa and that tanks were firing at houses. Also, supplies of blood at hospitals was starting to run low. In the coastal city of Baniyas, thousands took to the streets on Tuesday, chanting "freedom, freedom," amid reports that the army had been deployed in the surrounding area. At least 400 civilians have been killed by security forces since mid-March in their campaign to crush the protests, Sawasiah said, adding that the United Nations Security Council must convene to start proceedings against Syrian officials in the International Criminal Court and "rein in the security apparatus". Sawasiah said security forces had killed up to 35 civilians since they entered the southern city of Deraa at dawn on Monday. The UN secretary-general has called for an independent inquiry into the deaths of people he has described as peaceful demonstrators. But Syria's UN envoy has said the country is perfectly capable of conducting its own transparent inquiry into the deaths. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters that Assad had instructed the government "to establish a national commission of inquiry and investigation about all the casualties among civilians" and the envoy pledged "full transparency". "We have nothing to hide," he said. "We regret what's going on, but you should also acknowledge the fact that this unrest and riots, in some of their aspects, have hidden agendas," he said, adding that some foreign governments were trying to destabilise Syria. International pressure on Assad is mounting, with European governments urging Syria to end the violence and the US saying it was studying more targeted sanctions against the country.

Source: Agencies