{"id":388902,"date":"2011-04-22T11:59:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T11:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/"},"modified":"2011-04-22T11:59:59","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T11:59:59","slug":"mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass protests unfold on &#8216;Great Friday&#8217; in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"99.3925073457\">\n<p>Syrian nationals living in Jordan demonstrating in front of their country&#8217;s embassy in Amman on April 17, 2011.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NEW:<\/strong> Demonstrations get going in Syria<\/li>\n<li>Groups urge Syria not to suppress protests expected in several cities<\/li>\n<li>More than 200 people said to be killed since demonstrations began<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>(CNN)<\/strong> &#8212; Thousands of Syrian protesters spilled onto the streets on Friday, another showing of mass discontent toward the government.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses reported demonstrations in the capital of Damascus, where people chanted slogans and tear gas was fired amid a moderate security presence. In the southern city of Daraa, where the protests got their start last month, people shouted &#8220;dignity and freedom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amateur video obtained by CNN show demonstrations in Baniyas, Kiswah, and Homs. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the material.<\/p>\n<p>There was no immediate comment from the government about the gatherings.<\/p>\n<p>There have been daily demonstrations across Syria for weeks and huge rallies have been common in the authoritarian state after Friday prayers across the predominantly Muslim nation. As people gathered to express their grievances toward the government, they&#8217;ve frequently been greeted with police force.<\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International says the death toll has exceeded 228 since the demonstrations began in mid-March.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups have been urging the government to refrain from cracking down on peaceful turnouts during what is a Facebook-inspired outpouring dubbed &#8220;Great Friday.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The turnouts come a day after President Bashar al-Assad lifted the country&#8217;s 48-year-old state of emergency and abolish the state security court, both key demands of demonstrators who&#8217;ve taken to the streets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is imperative that these demonstrations are policed sensibly, sensitively and in accordance with international law to avoid further bloodshed on Syria&#8217;s streets,&#8221; Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International&#8217;s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These &#8216;Great Friday&#8217; protests could be the largest yet. If government security forces resort to the same extremely violent tactics they have used over the past month, the consequences could be exceedingly grave.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch also called on authorities &#8220;to permit Syrians to exercise their right to peaceful assembly&#8221; on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>It said the president&#8217;s decision to lift the state of emergency &#8220;will only be meaningful if Syria&#8217;s security services stop shooting, detaining and torturing prisoners,&#8221; Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The group says it has &#8220;documented a regular pattern of arbitrary detention of protesters, activists and journalists, many of whom have been tortured and mistreated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The emergency law permitted the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes. The security court was a special body that prosecuted people regarded as challenging the government.<\/p>\n<p>Al-Assad&#8217;s decrees on Thursday also included recognizing and regulating the right to peaceful protest. They also extended the period that security forces can hold suspects in certain crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch says the decrees don&#8217;t &#8220;address the extensive immunity that Syrian law provides to members of its security services.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It urged al-Assad to undertake more change, such as releasing political prisoners and those arrested for peaceful protests, order probes in security force violations, ensure detainees &#8220;prompt access to a lawyer,&#8221; and amend repressive provisions of the penal code.<\/p>\n<p>It said the government, which is controlled by the Baath Party, should &#8220;enact a political parties&#8217; law in compliance with international human rights norms.&#8221; Such a law would allow the establishment of independent political parties.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Syrian people want real reforms, and such reforms cannot take place as long as Syria&#8217;s security services are above the law and can violate people&#8217;s basic rights at will,&#8221; Stork said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p>[Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Syrian nationals living in Jordan demonstrating in front of their country&#8217;s embassy in Amman on April 17, 2011. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Demonstrations get going in Syria Groups urge Syria not to suppress protests expected in several cities More than 200 people said to be killed since demonstrations began (CNN) &#8212; Thousands of Syrian protesters spilled onto the streets on Friday, another showing of mass discontent toward the government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-388902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mass protests unfold on &#039;Great Friday&#039; in Syria - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Mass protests unfold on &#039;Great Friday&#039; in Syria - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Syrian nationals living in Jordan demonstrating in front of their country&#039;s embassy in Amman on April 17, 2011. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Demonstrations get going in Syria Groups urge Syria not to suppress protests expected in several cities More than 200 people said to be killed since demonstrations began (CNN) -- Thousands of Syrian protesters spilled onto the streets on Friday, another showing of mass discontent toward the government\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Mass protests unfold on &#8216;Great Friday&#8217; in Syria\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-22T11:59:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\"},\"wordCount\":713,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\",\"name\":\"Mass protests unfold on 'Great Friday' in Syria - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-22T11:59:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mass protests unfold on 'Great Friday' in Syria - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Mass protests unfold on 'Great Friday' in Syria - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Syrian nationals living in Jordan demonstrating in front of their country's embassy in Amman on April 17, 2011. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Demonstrations get going in Syria Groups urge Syria not to suppress protests expected in several cities More than 200 people said to be killed since demonstrations began (CNN) -- Thousands of Syrian protesters spilled onto the streets on Friday, another showing of mass discontent toward the government","twitter_image":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Mass protests unfold on &#8216;Great Friday&#8217; in Syria","datePublished":"2011-04-22T11:59:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/"},"wordCount":713,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/","name":"Mass protests unfold on 'Great Friday' in Syria - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png","datePublished":"2011-04-22T11:59:59+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/mass-protests-unfold-on-great-friday-in-syria\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}