The Syrian People Are Asking To Be Heard!

When will the western nations step in here?  Does the country have to have an oil supply in order for us to do something?


'Half a million' on the streets of Hama

Reports of biggest protest in Syria so far in city at heart of opposition, as activists say eight dead across country.

Last Modified: 08 Jul 2011 13:17

Still from a YouTube video reportedly showing US ambassador Robert Ford's car amid Hama protests

More than 500,000 people have taken to the streets of Hama, according to activists, in what they say is the biggest protest yet against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.Activists said eight people have been killed so far on Friday, including three in Maarat an-Numan, three in Homs and one in the Midan neighbourhood of the capital.
Syrian state-run TV said the deaths in Damascus and Homs were caused by snipers from "armed gangs".
An activist told Al Jazeera on Friday that Hama, where marchers were seen carrying olive branches, had become a "tangible example of resistance to injustice" in Syria.
Hundreds of thousands also protested last Friday, prompting mass arrests and reports of several deaths when Syrian security forces subsequently moved into the city, Syria's third largest, and the surrounding area.
"Hama with all the support it is receiving from all over the country is becoming a role model for peaceful demonstrations and we are protesting here for all of Syria," the local activist said.
Western solidarity
Friday's protests followed a visit to Hama by Robert Ford, the US ambassador in Syria, who toured the city on Thursday to show solidarity with residents, the US State Department said.
A US official said Ford left Hama on Friday afternoon so as not to be a distraction during the weekly demonstrations.
Diplomats said on Friday that French ambassador Eric Chevallier was also in Hama to show support for the city.
Damascus accused Washington of "interfering" in its affairs.
"The presence of the US ambassador in Hama without previous permission is obvious proof of a clear evidence of the United States' involvement in current events in Syria and its attempt to incite an escalation in the situation, which disturbs Syria's security and stability," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement.
In response, the US state department said: "The fundamental intention was to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change."
Fleeing Hama
About 1,000 people have fled Hama fearing another military crackdown on protests calling for Assad to quit and an end to the Baath Party's decades-long grip on power, a Syrian rights group has said.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the residents had headed for Salamiyah, a town 30km from Hama, on Thursday, after it said security forces killed at least 23 civilians there and conducted mass arrests since Tuesday.

Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that an influx of troops following the massive Friday protest had brought a dramatic escalation of "killings and arrests in the city".
But Al-Watan, a state-run newspaper, said on Thursday that the situation in Hama was calm and the barricades erected in the streets by protesters to keep security forces out had been dismantled.

The newspaper said authorities had told demonstrators to avoid any confrontations and clear the streets so residents could go to work.
They also told protesters to avoid a "last resort" military operation, the paper said.
Hama has been a symbolic city of opposition since the 1982 crackdown on a revolt by the banned Muslim Brotherhood against then-president Hafez al-Assad, father of the current leader.
About 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the crackdown.
There has also been a security crackdown in the city of Hasrata just outside Damascus, the capital, where three people have been killed and nine injured, sources told Al Jazeera.
Security forces surrounded the Hassan mosque on Thursday and fired at people coming out after prayers, the source said.
According to reports, police also fired tear gas into the local hospital.