Each year, on the anniversary of the Clock Tower square sit-in in central Homs city, the memories of the massacre that followed fade away. Back then, the Syrian regime chose fire and gunpowder to suppress the peaceful protests with Shabiha militants infiltrating the ranks of the demonstrators, calling for jihad and painting a narrative to the world that the people’s revolution is a revolution of terror and extremism.
Activist Moataz al-Zaidi, who participated in the sit-in, said that on April 17, 2011, security services killed seven young men in Bab al-Sebaa neighborhood, the first to take to the streets and protest the regime.
Hundreds of thousands of people held a sit-in at the New Clock Square in Homs the next day, with several speeches calling for freedom, dignity and the unity of the Syrian people.
According to Zaidi, the seven young men who were killed were the spark that lit the fuse of revolution. At the time, he added, the Hamasana demonstrations were taking over every neighborhood, buzzing with calls for freedom and unity and ready to pay a heavy price.
After praying and burying the seven martyrs, the huge crowd of people, which included opposition members from all sects, headed towards the city square, filling it with what was estimated to be 100,000 people.
Al-Zaidi said that the Homs police chief at the time addressed the crowd from in front of the police headquarters saying, “You want to protest, go ahead and protest. Just do not come near us and we will not come near you.”
The sit-in was encircled by a human-chain to control who enters and exits the protest and to prevent sabotage.
Al-Zaidi recounted that at 10:30 p.m., three strangers, wearing white robes and long beards, entered the sit-in and started calling for jihad and revenge against the security forces. Other protestors tried to stop them, so two of them fled, while the third was arrested and was later discovered to be a member of Hezbollah, sent to sabotage the revolution.
The incident, however, did not spoil the atmosphere of the protest and the enthusiasm and joy of the protestors, who until then did not suspect that the regime would open fire and kill dozens, if not hundreds of them.
Al-Zaidi said that a quarter of an hour before the massacre, Sheikh Sahl Junaid suggested that they end the sit-in, after receiving information that the army is on its way and is prepared to disperse it by force. However, people refused and a few minutes later, cars loaded with dozens of officers attacked and opened fire on the protestors.
Regime patrols roamed the streets to arrest those fleeing, and dozens of people began knocking on doors to take shelter, al-Zaidi recalled. The next day, the city woke up to more bloodshed in Homs for dignity and freedom.
Zaman Al Wasl
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