Activists and intellectuals from Suwayda express their rejection of Damascus authority policy

Last January 28, Abu Muhammad al-Julani declared himself president of the Damascus Authority, which sparked popular discontent and widespread fears in Syrian society about the future of the country and the form of its administration. These events led to the outbreak of protests in several regions, including Suwayda.

On the sidelines of the protest that took place in Karama Square yesterday, political activists and actors in civil society organizations, led by intellectuals and women, expressed their vision of the future Syria, pointing out their fears about the current situation and the Damascus authority’s current policy.

Political and human rights activist, lawyer Marwan Al-Naffa, stated: “Over the past years, we have struggled against the corrupt and tyrannical regime because we seek to establish a civil state ruled by law. Today, despite the fall of the regime, military factions appointing a person as president is illegal.” We reject this matter, as we demand a civil state that guarantees equality of rights and duties.”

For her part, feminist activist Rima Azzam emphasized the continuation of the Syrian revolution, expressing her rejection of everything that is said about the revolution’s victories and the dissolution of political organizations, indicating her rejection of what the country is heading towards under the current authority of Damascus, and she said: “We will continue until the aspirations of the Syrian people are achieved.” .

Political activist Lubna Shatti explained that the protest expresses a refusal to “inaugurate the president of Syria through a military decision,” noting that military solutions will not secure a bright future for the country, and put forward the demand of building a civil state that includes all Syrians.

As for engineer Hussein Hussein from Tartous Governorate, he said: “Our participation today is to support the principle of a true civil state, which preserves the dignity of all Syrians. We reject any separation or marginalization of a Syrian component.”

A defector from the former regime’s army since 2011, Salah Al-Kuntar, pointed out that the military factions’ appointment of Abu Muhammad al-Julani conflicts with the democratic principles that the Syrians seek to implement in the country, considering that this supplication of authority undermines efforts to build a new Syria.

The protests continue as an expression of the popular will to emphasize the principles of freedom, justice, and equality, amid calls to transform Syria into a civil state capable of embracing all its components, and others calling for building a decentralized, pluralistic, democratic Syria

Sh-S

ANHA