Progressive Youth Organization and civil society activists on Monday staged a symbolic sit-in outside the ESCWA building in downtown Beirut in Lebanon to protest against the Assad regime’s onslaught on Aleppo with the participation of head of the Democratic Gathering, Walid Jumblatt MP and Ghazi Aridi MP.
The Organization’s Secretary General, Salam Abdel-Samad, delivered a speech in which he said: “The massacres committed against women and children in Aleppo are in violation of all international agreements and charters.” He also denounced the “shameful silence of the international community.”
“The more unfortunate matter is the silence of the world’s public opinion, which has made no move to pressure governments to move quickly to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria,” Abdel-Samad added.
On Sunday, hundreds of Tripoli’s citizens held a solidarity stand with Aleppo in front of the United Nations’ headquarters, under the slogan of “Anger for Aleppo.”
Participants held banners condemning the attacks on Aleppo and the international silence towards it.
A statement on behalf of the civilian population of Aleppo was read out during the sit-in. the statement said: “From under the bombardment on Aleppo, we appeal to those with living conscious all over the world to protest against the carnage in Aleppo as we cannot gather to protest.”
The statement also said that “those who are being killed in Aleppo are not the terrorists, but innocent civilians in public markets, schools, civilian neighborhoods, hospitals, and mosques.”
“It is war waged on the revolution’s social base, targeting us as human beings, targeting our will and our morale for over five years. It is a war that does not have any strategic goal other than terrorizing civilians to deter them from demanding freedom and democracy,” the statement went on.
“Over 470,000 people have been killed in Syria, 1.9 million have been injured, 4 million have become refugees, 7 million people are now internally displaced, 13 million are in need for aid, and 4 out of every 5 people in Syria are now without a job,” the statement added.
The hashtag #AleppoIsBurning is still trending worldwide on social networking sites, while sit-ins and protests continue to be held by Syrians and sympathizers with the Syrian people in many countries around the world. (Source: Al-Arabiya)
