Syrians Rally in Beirut to Hail China U.N. Veto
The Syrian community in Lebanon on Sunday staged a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in the Beirut district of Bir Hassan to hail Beijing's veto at the Security Council that blocked U.N. action against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Carrying Syrian flags and portraits of Assad, the demonstrators shouted slogans in support of the Syrian leader and denounced a number of Western and Arab countries critical of the Assad government.
“Through this firm stance, China and Russia stressed their commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations pertaining to respecting the sovereignty of the member states,” Jamal al-Mohsen, said in a speech outside the embassy on behalf of the Syrian expats.
At the end of the rally, pro-Assad demonstrators handed the Chinese ambassador a letter of gratitude.
On February 4 China and Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria, describing it as "unbalanced."
Syrian activist groups say more than 6,000 have died since anti-regime protests erupted last March.
Damascus does not recognize the scale of the protest movement that erupted in mid-March, insisting it is fighting "terrorist groups" seeking to sow chaos as part of a foreign-hatched conspiracy.
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