The Alawite minority, from which deposed President Bashar al-Assad comes, took to the streets after the broadcast of a video showing the destruction of one of its sanctuaries.
A protester was killed Wednesday in Homs in central Syria after security forces opened fire to disperse Alawite Syrians protesting against an attack on one of their shrines, an NGO said.
“One protester was killed and five others injured after security forces in Homs opened fire to disperse demonstrators” took to the streets after the broadcast on social networks of a video showing “an attack by fighters” against an Alawite sanctuary in Aleppo (north), the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahmane, told AFP.
Thousands of Syrians from the Alawite minority, from which deposed President Bashar al-Assad comes, demonstrated on Wednesday in several cities in Syria after a video showing an attack on one of their sanctuaries.
These are the first demonstrations by Alawites since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad by a coalition of rebels led by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which entered Damascus on December 8 after seizing 11 days from much of the country.
According to witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), thousands of Syrians demonstrated in the coastal towns of Tartus, Jableh, and Latakia in the west of the country, where the Alawite community is very established, a branch of Shiite Islam.
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The OSDH confirmed similar gatherings in Banias and Homs, the large central city where the police decreed, according to the official Sana agency, a nighttime curfew from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Local authorities in Jableh also announced a nighttime curfew.
The anger of the Alawites erupted after a video circulating on social networks showing “an attack by fighters” against an Alawite sanctuary in the Maysaloon district, in Aleppo (north), Syria's second city, according to the OSDH. Five employees of the sanctuary which was set on fire died, according to the NGO.
“We want peace”
In Damascus, the Interior Ministry assured that the video was “old” and dated from the capture of Aleppo by the rebels on December 1. “The aim of circulating such images again is to sow discord among the Syrian people (…)”he added, accusing “unknown groups” of the attack.
The new authorities have increased gestures of assurance towards all minorities in a country traumatized by war.
In Jableh, protesters chanted “Alawites, Sunnis, we want peace”indicated a demonstrator, Ali Daoud, to AFP, calling for “punish the attackers”.
Images showed a crowd marching in the street, waving the rebels' independence-era flag.
“No to the burning of holy places and religious discrimination, no to sectarianism, yes to a free Syria”could we read on a sign.
In Latakia, demonstrators denounced “violations against the Alawite community”according to Ghidak Mayya, a 30-year-old protester. “For the moment we are listening to calls for calm (…) But the situation could explode.”
After Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow in the wake of the rebel offensive, members of the Alawite minority welcomed his fall but said they feared marginalization, or worse, reprisals.
According to political scientist Fabrice Balanche, “the Alawites were very close to Bashar’s regime”of which they constituted the “praetorian guard”. He estimates their number at 1.7 million today, or around 9% of the population.
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