Syria Lifts Emergency Law After 48 Years

Sky News

Syria has ended the state of emergency that has existed for nearly 50 years, the state news agency SANA has reported.

The removal of the decades-old law came after fresh violence erupted as security forces fired on a crowd of thousands of protesters in the city of Homs.

The demonstrators had gathered to call for the fall of the regime just hours after the authorities said they would suppress any "armed revolt" in the country.

One activist described the security forces as "swarming" into Al-Saa Square early on Tuesday morning, where some 20,000 people were staging a mass sit-in, insisting they would not leave until President Bashar al-Assad stepped down.

The shootings caused the protesters to scatter.

A statement from the interior ministry said: "The latest incidents have shown that... armed Salafist groups, particularly in the cities of Homs and Banias, have openly called for armed revolt."
The statement went on to accuse such groups of killing soldiers, policemen and civilians, and of attacking public and private property, and warned "their terrorist activities will not be tolerated".

Thousands staged a mass sit-in prior to the shootings

The authorities "will act with determination to impose security and stability in the country" and will "pursue the terrorists wherever they are in order to bring them to justice and end the armed revolt", the statement issued to official news agency Sana said.

Before the state action, demonstrators had arrived in their thousands on Monday, many setting up tents, a day after 11 people were killed by security forces in Homs and a nearby town during a day of massive nationwide protest.

The protesters, inspired by the success of the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, dismissed a weekend pledge by President Assad to lift nearly five decades of strict emergency law and demanded the release of all political prisoners and an end to arbitrary arrests.

"This despotic regime must change," said activist Najati Tayyara. "We have been waiting for 11 years for reforms."

The embattled President, who succeeded his autocratic father Hafez after his death in 2000, has been facing unprecedented popular protests since the middle of last month.
Protesters are also angry about the death in custody of a Muslim cleric, Sheikh Faraj Abu Mussa, a week after his arrest.