Eleven people were killed in a Syrian crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, activists said Monday, as the UN condemned the “shocking” brutality of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The toll of those shot dead on Sunday rose to 11 from a previously reported seven in Rastan and Talbisa, towns in the flashpoint central region of Homs, the activist told AFP, declining to be identified for security reasons. Among the latest casualties was a girl identified as Hajar al-Khatib. “Two bodies were found at dawn on Monday in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs,” which the security forces had closed off with several roadblocks, the activist said.
Police were continuing to sweep the region as hundreds of people wounded in the crackdown were hospitalised in the nearby city of Hama due to the roadblocks. State news agency SANA said four soldiers were killed and 14 wounded by “terrorist groups” in Talbisa on Sunday before some were arrested and a large quantity of weapons seized. Activists said protesters took to the streets of Hama and Saraqeb, near Idleb in the northwest, during the night to call for the downfall of President Assad’s regime. Hundreds of people also marched on Sunday in Douma and Jdaidat, on the outskirts of Damascus, chanting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is greatest,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
On Facebook, Syrian pro-democracy activists on Monday called for protesters to burn pictures of Assad. The latest bloodshed came two days after security forces killed at least 12 protesters in dispersing demonstrations against Assad’s regime, according to activists. More than 1,000 people have been killed and 10,000 arrested since the revolt began, human rights groups say. Syrian authorities say 143 soldiers, security forces and police have been killed. On Monday, the UN rights chief Navi Pillay condemned the crackdown on Syrian protesters, saying the actions were shocking in their disregard for human rights.
“The brutality and magnitude of measures taken by the governments in Libya and now Syria have been particularly shocking in their outright disregard for basic human rights,” Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council. “Resort to lethal or excessive force against peaceful demonstrators not only violates fundamental rights, including the right to life, but serves to exacerbate tensions and tends to breed a culture of violence,” Pillay said.
