Bashar al-Assad’s security forces in Syria opened fire Friday on protesters demanding regime change. It is reported that 30 protesters were killed by gun fire.
Bashar al-Assad’s security forces in Syria opened fire Friday on protesters demanding regime change. It is reported that 30 protesters were killed by gun fire.
6 thoughts on “Syria security forces gun down 30 protesters (video)”
May God help them.
What else can we use to defeat our enemies? Are prayers effective weapons? Are prayers just weapons of the weak?
Amazingly Tunisian soldiers and Egyptian armies, to some degree, have been very friendly to the people of both countries – Tunisia and Egypt. These particular soldiers of the two Muslim countries have had especial relationships with their citizens, and these relationships of theirs forced the oppressive leaders of the two countries to leave their long-held presidential offices without excessive blood shed.
On the other hand, the Ethiopian, the Sudanese, the Yemenis, the Libyans, and, especially, the Syrian soldiers have been the formidable enemies of the people of those unfortunate countries – Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria.
As we have witnessed the brutalities of the armies of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) of Ethiopia, Al Bashir of Sudan, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Colonel Muhammad Gaddafi of Libya, and Bashar al-Assad of Syria, we wonder the origins of such ruthless armies who indiscriminately shoot on the peaceful demonstrators and kill hundreds of them, and no one is held responsible for such indiscriminate killings.
These merciless armies are citizens of their own countries: most of them have brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins, and friends, but how can they shoot and kill their own kin to defend one brutal dictator from falling from his power? This is undefined mystery that needs explanations from politicians, sociologists, journalists, religious leaders, and from the killers themselves and from their oppressive leaders.
For example, we have seen the Woyanne Federal Police, ordered by Abay Woldu, President of Tigray, attacking the poor, humble, and law-abiding citizens of Mekelle City for demanding to know why they have to leave their homes and wanting an explanation from Abay Woldu, servant of Dictator Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi). Instead of accepting their apolitically motivated demands, Abay Woldu savagely clubbed them and left them homeless.
There is a good lesson we can learn from the father of an evil-possessed son: the father brought his evil-possessed son to Jesus to drive out the evil spirit from his son. The father told Jesus that he had brought his son to Jesus’ disciples but they couldn’t drive out the evil spirit from his son. After Jesus saw the convulsion of the child, he “asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’” The boy’s father answered, “from child. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him” (Mark 9:17-22).
We know our country, Ethiopia, has been possessed by the evil spirit, Meles Seitanawi; this evil spirit has often thrown her into burning fire – poverty, disease, slavery, and immense suffering. If one asks someone for how long Ethiopia has been like this, the obvious answer for most Ethiopians born during the reign of Mengistu Haile Mariam and who are living until now is from “childhood.”
Then after Jesus drove out the evil spirit from the evil-possessed child, his disciples asked Jesus why they had failed to drive out the evil spirit themselves from the boy? Jesus’ answer to their question was: “This kind [of evil spirit] can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:28-29).
Why are those of us who live abroad unable to drive out Meles, the evil spirit, from our believed country Ethiopia? Well, the answer is simple: this kind of evil spirit, this kind of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi), and this kind of demon that has been tormenting Ethiopia for many years “can come out only by prayer” to use Jesus’ words.
There may be some people there or somewhere who think prayer is the weapon of weak people; by prayer alone, we cannot bring down Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) from power. They are absolutely wrong! It was St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Canada, who once said: “However great may be the temptation, if we know how to use the weapon of prayer well we shall come off conquerors at last, for prayer is more powerful than all devils.”
Indeed, it was by the power of prayer and faith in the Almighty God, I am sure, the wall of Jericho crumbled down (Joshua 6:2-5), and it was by the power of prayer Elijah the prophet demanded the heavens not to give rains for almost three years, and Elijah prayed again and “the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops” (1st King 17; James 5:18).
Joshua and Elijah were human beings like us, but through their prayers these individual persons had performed wonders and miracles in their time for their people. If we pray hard, we can bring down, like the walls of Jericho, the Meles presidency and liberate our people. May the Almighty God give us the spirits of Joshua and Elijah, servants of the living God!
A day will come when we Ethiopians smash the statue of Aba Paulos, the illegitimate patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church as the Syrian people tried to smash the statue of the former president of Syria, the father of dictator Bashar al-Assad, who ordered his armies to drive their armored vehicles to Daraa as if Daraa were besieged by foreign powers and kill unarmed civilians in hundreds. At the end of the day, however, Bashar will fall; Daraa, Damascus, and other Syrian cities will be liberated. Bashar may or may not save his long and camel-like neck and go to Britain since his wife is, I assume, from England.
I feel sad when innocent people are killed. But if they do not do anything then there will be many other peoples will die silently. Some hundreds will die in this time but if the regime continues thousands will die in their secret prisons. It is a simple mathematics.
This is a powerful movement they are driving in Syria. At the beginning of the Arab uprising Syrians were not in a mood to come out and join the protest. Now that they have seen countries willing to protest were getting rewarded with freedom they thought its time to sieze the moment and get their freedom from dictatorship too. The people in the Middle East will have their freedoms without a doubt.
Egypt’s Revolution has brought misery to the indigenous Egyptian Coptic Christians as BBC reports the following story:
The clashes around the al-Azraa church saw the building go up in flames
At least five people have been killed and dozens more wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo.
The clashes started after a crowd of Muslims attacked a church, demanding it hand over a women they believe had converted to Islam.
It took police and soldiers some hours to bring it under control.
Clashes between Muslims and Christians have continued into the post-Mubarak era, after harmony in the revolution.
The recurrence of yet another serious outbreak of communal violence – as the military government leads a faltering transition to democracy – is a worrying development for Egypt, the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Cairo says.
Church blazes
Eyewitnesses said several hundred conservative Muslims – belonging to the Salafist movement – gathered at the Coptic Saint Mena Church in the heavily-populated north-western Cairo district of Imbaba.
They were protesting over allegations that a Christian woman was being held there against her will because she had married a Muslim man and wanted to convert to Islam, Egypt’s official Mena news agency reports.
Shouts were exchanged between church guards, people living near the church and the protesters, which developed into a fully-fledged confrontation involving gunfire, firebombs and stone-throwing.
The church and some nearby homes were set alight, and it took several hours for the emergency services and the military to bring the situation under control.
“I just left one young man dead inside the church,” one man, a Christian, was quoted as telling Reuters journalists.
A parish priest, Father Hermina, told the AFP news agency that the group had attempted to storm the church earlier in the day.
But one Muslim protester told the news agency that they had first been fired upon by the Copts.
“We were peaceful,” said the man, who gave his name as Mamduh. “We won’t leave until they give up their weapons and the people who killed us are tried.”
As well as five dead, at least 50 people were reported to have been wounded.
Nearby in the same district, Muslim protesters threw firebombs at another church, setting it on fire. There were no of reports of any casualties but the al-Azraa church was severely damaged in the blaze.
Election fears
Similar claims about women being held against their will have been made before by Salafist groups, who have become more assertive in the post-Mubarak era, our correspondent says.
In March, 13 people died in similar clashes in another neighbourhood. Last month, demonstrators in the southern city of Qena cut all transport links with Cairo for a week in protest over the appointment of a Christian governor.
Coptic Christians account for about 10% of Egypt’s population, and have long complained of state discrimination against them.
Now they are expressing fears for their safety if hardline Muslims do well in the election scheduled for September, our correspondent reports.