AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces clamped down at universities after students marched for the first time in the second biggest city Aleppo during unprecedented protests against Baathist rule, activists said on Thursday.
Around 150 students marched on Wednesday in a protest demanding political freedoms on the campus of Aleppo University, rights defenders who were in contact with them said.
Baath Party irregulars quickly dispersed the students who chanted “We sacrifice our blood and our soul for you, Deraa.”
The slogan was to show solidarity with the southern city of Deraa where demonstrations against the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad and his party started three and a half weeks ago.
They have since spread to the suburbs of Damascus, the northeast, the Mediterranean coast and areas in between.
“The thugs quickly organized a pro-Assad demonstration, and sure enough, Syrian television came to film it,” one of the activists said, adding that several protesters were beaten and three students were arrested.
“The regime is aware that it cannot let campuses breath. They have seen what an emboldened student movement can do elsewhere,” the activist added.
With heavy secret police presence, preachers on the state payroll giving pro-Assad sermons and the Sunni merchant class staying on the sidelines, major
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