Syria Detains 1,000 People in Two Days, Local Rights Group Says
May 03, 2011, 6:59 AM EDTBy Massoud Derhally
(See EXTRA and MET for more on unrest.)
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people in the last two days as a crackdown on demonstrations intensifies, according to a local activist group.
About half of the detentions took place in the southern province of Daraa, scene of the most violent clashes between protesters and security forces, Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria’s National Organization for Human Rights, said in a phone interview today.
Syria has sent troops to quell demonstrations, inspired by popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, that have spread across the country and posed the most serious challenge to the 11-year rule of President Bashar Al-Assad. Qurabi estimates that more than 550 people have died since the uprising began in mid-March.
The crisis in Syria is “quickly going beyond the point of no return,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report today. “The regime’s hope appears to be that a massive crackdown can bring the protesters to heel,” a policy that may lead to “loss of life on a massive scale,” sectarian conflict and the destabilization of Syria’s neighbours, it said.
--Editors: Ben Holland, Digby Lidstone.
To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon at mderhally@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
