Syria Protesters demanding an end to authoritarian rule shut down the Baath in the Druze town of Sweida, southwestern, on Sunday, August 27, 2023. The protests, entering their second week, show no signs of abating. Youths with welding machines closed the gates of the party building led by President Bashar al Assad.
Hundreds of people took to the streets again for the seventh straight day in peaceful protest over the worsening living conditions caused by high fuel prices. They demanded a complete political change. “Put down Bashar, we want to live with dignity,” they chanted in the square where Druze spiritual leaders gave their blessing to their protests without endorsing calls to end five decades of Assad family rule.
The major economic crisis has caused the local currency to collapse, leading to skyrocketing prices for food and essentials. The Assad government blamed Western sanctions.
Rising dissent in a region of loyalists who once supported Assad now poses the biggest challenge. To his rule after winning more than a decade of civil war with crucial aid from Russia and Iran. Officials have beefed up security in the Mediterranean coastal region, the ancestral homeland of Assad’s Alawite Shia minority which holds tight control of the army and security forces. Kenan Waqaf, a prominent journalist jailed for criticizing the authorities, said his aim was to prevent an escalation in calls for strikes and protesting living conditions.

Across the province

local chapters of the Baath Party whose officials hold key government. Posts were also shut down by prote whose cadres fled. Residents said The authorities remained silent about the extent of the protests but instruct security personnel not to be seen. In a rare act of defiance in areas under Assad’s rule, protesters tore down Assad’s posters. The party promotes the cult of him and his late father. Sweida, a city of just over 100,000 people, has seen most public institutions close. Public transport has been on strike and some businesses have opened. Residents and civil activists say. activist and editor of local news site Suwayda 24.  Officials said they vacated several checkpoints to avoid friction.

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