‘We will keep protesting’: Druze minority demands a voice in new Syria Assad’s fall welcomed in southern province of Suwayda but community continues to press Damascus caretaker government.
Even before Assad fled last month as an insurgency reached Damascus, residents of Suwayda had been demanding a secular state that enshrined minority rights, and are now emphatically insisting their voices be heard in the new Syria.
The central square of the city, home to one of Syria’s larger minority communities, hosts the crowds of weekly – or sometimes even daily – demonstrators calling for the representation and public services they have demanded for years.
“Since last August until now we’ve been protesting daily,” said Alia Kuntar, a lawyer, after the weekly demonstration held in Suwayda City’s central square in front of a metal pavilion emblazoned with the words “Peace to all Syrians”.
We haven’t felt any crackdown from the new government, but equally we didn’t see any action on the ground in response to our demands.”.
