US calls for end to Syria protest violence

Google/AFP, Apr 20, 2011

Demonstrators protest at a funeral for two people
allegedly killed in clashes with security forces.

WASHINGTON — The United States called on Syria Tuesday to cease violence against pro-democracy protesters and to "urgently implement" reforms, after four people died in the latest crackdown by security forces.

"There was more violence overnight, soldiers firing on peaceful protesters," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

"The violence there continues to raise serious concerns and it remains clear that the Syrian government needs to urgently implement broader reform and cease violence against peaceful protesters."

Toner called for more direct action by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who promised at the weekend to rescind a controversial emergency law in place since 1963, and whose repeal has been a top demand of reformists demonstrating for the past month.

"He's spoken several times now," Toner said of Assad. "We've seen a lot of words and not a lot of action."

And while "we don't normally talk about these sorts of things... I think in this particular case, we feel compelled to comment, given Syria's actions against its own people, that we believe it would be inappropriate and hypocritical for Syria to join the (UN's) Human Rights Council," Toner stressed.

Syria's government on Tuesday approved a bill to rescind the emergency law and agreed to abolish the state security court, after weeks of pro-democracy protests and hundreds of deaths.

The emergency law imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement, authorizes the interrogation of any individual and the monitoring of private communications and allows the "arrest of anyone suspected of posing a threat to security."

The cabinet also approved a bill regulating demonstrations, the state news agency SANA reported, only hours after the interior minister imposed a total ban on political gatherings and after security forces fired on protesters in the city of Homs, killing four.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar told people "to refrain from taking part in all marches, demonstrations or sit-ins under any banner whatsoever," SANA reported.

Toner stressed that "in light of some of the comments that we've seen from the interior minister, this new legislation may prove as restrictive as the emergency law it replaced."

On Monday the State Department said Washington was "very concerned... about the Assad regime" and called on his government to "address the legitimate aspirations of its people."

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