‘Free, civil Syria’: Hundreds protest in Damascus for women’s rights, democracy

Hundreds of Syrians protested Thursday in central Damascus calling for democracy and women’s rights, more than a week after an opposition coalition ousted president Bashar al-Assad, AFP correspondents said.

“We want a democracy, not a religious state,” men and women demonstrators chanted in central Damascus’s Ummayad Square, as well as “Free, civil Syria” and “the Syrian people are one”, while some protesters held signs including “No free nation without free women.”

“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS) launched a lightning offensive from their northwest Syria bastion last month, sweeping swathes of territory from government control and taking the capital on December 8, toppling al-Assad.

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Proscribed as a “terrorist” organization by several Western governments, HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric by assuring protection for the country’s many religious and ethnic minorities.

It has appointed a transitional leadership to run the country until March 1.

Protester Majida Mudarres, 50, a retired civil servant, said “both women and men, have a role to play in building the new Syria.”

“Women have a big role in political life... We will be observing any position against women and will not accept it. The time in which we were silent is over,” she told AFP.

Al-Assad’s family crushed dissent, ruling Syria with an iron fist for more than 50 years.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that there was a “flame of hope” in Syria following al-Assad’s fall but warned of significant challenges ahead.

“The Middle East is being consumed by many fires, but today, there is a flame of hope in Syria, and that flame must not be extinguished,” he said.

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