The Syrian President said the country is moving toward 'comprehensive reforms,' as activists proclaimed the army sealed off a key port city where protesters were holding demonstrations.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said today the country is moving toward "comprehensive reforms," as activists said the army sealed off a key port city where protesters were holding demonstrations.
One activist said there were tanks in the streets around Banias, which would mark the first time the army had deployed tanks to help quell the unrest. The account could not be independently confirmed.
Protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily every week, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms in Assad's authoritarian regime. More than 170 people have been killed.
"President Assad confirmed that Syria is moving ahead on the road of comprehensive reforms," the state-run news agency SANA said Sunday. In recent weeks, Assad has answered the protesters with both force and limited concessions that have failed to appease an emboldened movement inspired by the Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Today, the army set up checkpoints at the entrances to the port city of Banias, said leading opposition figure Haitham al-Maleh.
"There are demonstrations throughout the city and people are chanting against the regime," said Al-Maleh, an 80-year-old lawyer and longtime rights activist who spent years as a political prisoner in Syria. He spent six years in jail in the 1980s, was jailed again in 2010 and was released last month.
Another activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals, said residents told him the army brought in tanks to areas around the city. He added that soldiers were checking people's identifications as they entered or left Banias.
The accounts could not be independently confirmed. The government has placed severe restrictions on news coverage and many journalists have been detained and expelled from the country.
Al-Maleh said residents had to drive outside the city to be able to make telephone calls after authorities cut mobile and land lines as well as Internet connections in the city. Repeated calls by The Associated Press to the city were not going through, making it difficult to gather details. Syria's National Organization for Human Rights said one person was wounded in Banias, but there were no details.
The government blames the violence on armed gangs rather than true reform-seekers and has vowed to crush further unrest, raising the risks of more bloodshed. Syria's Interior Ministry said Saturday it will not tolerate "the intentional mixing between peaceful protests and sabotage and sowing sectarian strife."
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