Assad Supporters Rally in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs
Some 700 Syrians and Lebanese staged a rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Saturday to show their support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian residents of Lebanon organized the demonstration in the southern suburb of Hay al-Sellum, a bastion of Hizbullah, to display their support for Assad and his late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.
"God, Syria and Bashar" and "We love you Bashar" read their banners.
They chanted: "We will sacrifice our blood and soul for you, Bashar."
The Syrian president, facing an unprecedented domestic crisis since coming to power in 2000, has responded to protests calling for greater freedoms and the fall of the regime with a violent crackdown and a string of concessions.
Demonstrators carried pictures of Assad, his ally and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the leader of the Amal movement, Speaker Nabih Berri.
"The conference of Antalya and all traitors will go in the rubbish bin of history," read another banner in reference to a meeting of the Syrian opposition in Turkey which ended with a call for Assad's immediate resignation.
The Assad family has kept an iron grip on Syria for more than 40 years.
Syria's opposition movement, inspired by regime-toppling revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, has put the regime under unprecedented pressure since protests erupted in mid-March.
Source: Agence France Presse
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