(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian security in southern Sweida city has dispersed an anti-government demonstration by around 100 people who had gathered to protest against deteriorating living conditions ahead of U.S. Caesar sanctions, activists said Monday.
Security forces have arrested at least six activists who organised the peaceful rally in the main stronghold of Druze community near the Occupied Golan Heights, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.
Anti-government demonstrations came as a result of the collapsing currency that caused a hysterical hike in food prices.
The Syrian regime has blamed Western sanctions for the economic difficulties, which have forced prices up and left many struggling to afford food.
Sweida has been spared the same scale of devastating violence, fighting and mass detainment that has rocked communities elsewhere in the country over the course of Syria's nine-year war.
The deepening economic crisis has seen the Syrian pound drop to over 3,000 to the dollar, compared with 45 pounds at the beginning of the war.
Local news website Suwayda 24 published a letter sent to Druze leaders, often seen as trying to distance themselves from the conflict, asking them to encourage Saturday's protests.
"This [is] our time and place and there has long been subjugation. Do not stand with the oppressors and support them, you are people of truth," said the letter, written by youth activists from Sweida.
Protesters this week also demanded an end to Iranian and Russian intervention in Syria and chanted the name of Sultan Atrash, the Druze leader who fought Ottoman and French rule.
The Syrian war began in early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity, which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions.
Zaman Al Wasl with MEE
(Editing by Mohamed Hamdan)
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