Security apparatus in Syria contains demonstrations

Security apparatus  in Syria contains demonstrations
Since the unrest in Syria began on 15th March, fear of the security services and a descent into Iraq-like chaos, as well as the president’s reformist image has kept things contained.
 
As a result of the callousness of the security forces, demonstrations have been restricted to Daraa, Homs, Douma and Kurdish-majority regions of the north.
 
Hoping to quell the protests in Syria, the regime announced it would contemplate terminating the emergency laws, allow formation of other political parties in the state and allow more freedom of information.
 
According to Syrian Officials the violence is incited by armed groups and foreigners seeking to divide the ethnically and religiously diverse country.
 
Widely reiterated is the fear of sectarian violence, similar to that in Iraq and Lebanon.
 
According to analysts 45-year-old Assad cannot be compared to Egypt’s 83 year ousted Mubarak, after 30 years in power, or Ben Ali 74-year-old Zine El Abidine who toppled after ruling for nearly a quarter of a century.
 
A human rights activist, who asked for anonymity stresses the demonstrations are restricted to areas away from Damascus and Aleppo for economic reasons.
 
In an opinion piece in the French daily Le Monde Pierret, a researcher at Berlin’s Zentrum Moderner Orient highlights that the Syrian opposition must mobilise the population in far greater numbers than they have done so far in order to make the regime bend.
 
He added that the bourgeois families of Damascus and Aleppo, many of whose sons joined the Islamist insurrection 30 years ago, have not yet joined the protest movement asserting that the merchant class has greatly enriched itself with recent economic liberalisation, and will undoubtedly think twice when it comes to choosing between liberty and stability.