Dozens of protests have taken place in regime-held areas in southern Syria since mid-August. People took to the streets after the government announced that the price for fuel would be increased by 200%. However, the protesters’ demands are not just economic – they are also calling for an end to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Our team spoke to a protester in As-Suwayda, a city with a large population of people from the Druze religious minority, where the recent protest movement has been especially strong.
Chants like “the people want the regime to fall!”, “Syria belongs to us, not the al-Assad family!” and “Get out, Bashar!” have been ringing through the streets of the Syrian city of As-Suwayda in recent days. It’s an echo: protesters from the city – many of the Druze minority – are using the same chants that demonstrators took up twelve years ago when the revolution first began in Syria.
