Sweida witnesses its largest anti- Syrian regime protest ever

In an unprecedented scene, thousands of people from As-Sweida Governorate and various groups and components, gathered in the main square of their city, which they rely renamed “Al Karama Square”,

It was previously known as the “President’s Square”.

The square t has become a destination for those demanding justice and change since August 20, 2023

The Sweida 24 correspondent reported that the number of participants exceeded two thousand people, and described the demonstration as the largest ever since the beginning of the popular movement last week, and even the largest demonstration chanting against Assad in Sweida since the Syrian people’s uprising in 2011.

Purebred Arabian horses, sharpened swords, and fluttering banners dominated the scene, carrying five colors, with a religious-social dimension for this uprising group. Friday was a national wedding in every sense of the word, with a traditional character, carrying the slogans of change, equality, freedom, and social justice.

“Bashar out, Syria free!” shouted the large crowd. “Syria is not a farm, we are not sheep,” read a poster.

“The street united all sects, with various intellectual and political affiliations, women and men, even sheikhs, clerics, and children. They were all chanting against a dictator who destroyed Syria over the heads of its population, to send a message to the whole world, that the president only takes his legitimacy from the people, no matter what the normalizers say”, Sweida 24 reported

Syria is in a deep economic crisis that saw its currency plunge to a record 15,500 Syrian pounds to the dollar last month in a rapidly accelerating free-fall. It traded at 47 pounds to the dollar at the start of the conflict 12 years ago.

Dozens also gathered on Friday in the province of Daraa, where the 2011 protests kicked off. They carried the three-star flag emblematic of Syria’s uprising, as well as signs criticising the role of Iran, a key Assad ally.

Residents of other government-held parts of Syria – where restrictions are tighter – have made more discrete gestures of protest to avoid detection by government forces.

In the coastal province of Tartus, some residents held up small postcards reading “Syria belongs to us, not to the (ruling) Ba’ath party”, according to photographs posted on activists’ social media pages. A large billboard portraying Assad’s picture could be seen in the background.

Tartus is a key stronghold of the Alewite sect , of which Assad is a member.