Regime supporters broke up two rallies in southern Syria on Sunday, wounding five people after a presidential vow to end emergency rule within a week was dismissed as not enough and was followed by new protests. At least five demonstrators were wounded when regime agents dispersed two pro-freedom rallies in the south, bastion of Syria's Druze minority, rights activists said.
Some 400 people had gathered to celebrate Independence Day in Suweida, said Mazen Darwish, director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression. Demonstrators carried portraits of the leaders of the revolution that ended French rule and chanted slogans calling for freedom, he told AFP.
But regime backers cut short the rally, he said, beating protesters and trampling on portraits of Syrian revolutionary leaders who fought to end the French mandate. "Two demonstrators were injured and hospitalised," Darwish said.
In the nearby village of Al-Qraya, a delegation of about 150 people was not allowed to celebrate Independence Day as they had done in previous years, Muntaha al-Atrash told AFP. Three people were injured and hospitalised, Darwish said.
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