Syria protesters mourn activists killed in clashes

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Syria is the latest Arab country where anti-government protests have turned deadly. Today, mourners in the southern city of Deraa buried those who were killed there on Wednesday. That was when security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters. Witnesses say dozens of people were slain, although the actual number has been difficult to confirm. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with BBC reporter Lina Sinjab in Damascus. Download MP3

• Lina Sinjab’s video report from Syria
• BBC’s Lina Sinjab: Silence broken in Syria
• US condemns ‘disproportionate force’ in Syria
• Protests country by country

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World.  Syria is the latest Arab country where antigovernment protests have turned lethal.  Today, mourners in the southern city of Deraa buried those who were killed there yesterday.  That’s when security forces opened fire on antigovernment protesters. Witnesses say dozens of people were slain, although the actual number has been tough to confirm.  Today, the Syrian government said that media reports about the protests have been exaggerated.  Whatever the death toll, at today’s funeral marches in Deraa, thousands of people defied authorities and chanted for freedom in Syria. The BBC’s Lina Sinjab is in the Syrian capital of Damascus.  Aside from firing on its own citizens yesterday, Lina, what has been the Syrian government’s response to the unrest that began almost a week ago now?

Lina Sinjab: Well, to start with the government has denied all the accusations against the Syrian forces firing against people; they say they were infiltrators, they were armed gangs, they have received weapons from Jordan, and they were not the Syrian police or the Syrian security that fired against people.  However, this is not what we’ve heard from eyewitnesses on the ground that have been shot at.  But having said that, the government came out today and made a big statement.  There was a press conference run by the president’s advisor, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, where in fact they made huge concessions to diffuse the tension and to respond to people’s demands. One of the most important thing that could be on top of the list is reconsidering the state emergency that has been running in Syria since 1963, and this is really huge.  Even political activists in Syria were not expecting that the government would go so far in its reform.

Mullins: All right, you mentioned the president’s advisor, Bouthaina Shaaban, in fact, we want to play a little bit of that press conference where she spoke right now, and what she was talking about was the fact that she and the government are taking issue with foreign media, including the BBC, regarding the numbers that have been reported of people killed by security forces.  Here it is:

Bouthaina Shaaban: And I want to refer to one news item that was on BBC, on CNN, on many news that accuse the security forces of attacking the mosque, while they were not able to show 10 people near the mosque.  In fact, they were not able to show anything around the mosque or even the mosque.  So, there was a lot of exaggerations and many unspecified things…

Mullins: Now, she went on a little bit, maybe, Lina, you can tell us a little bit more what she’s talking about there and what your response is.

Sinjab: Well, basically they were angry about the media coverage around the world and how they were giving a one-sided view of the situation and not giving the side, the information that the Syrian government has been making. And I made it clear later on after discussion with her that the BBC has been showing two sides of the story and we have been very careful in reporting the story and saying whenever we’re mentioning any figure we’re saying that this is eyewitness, but we cannot verify it independently.

Mullins: All right, so there’s a group calling itself the Syrian Revolution 2011 that’s calling for protests in all Syrian provinces tomorrow.  We’ll see whether or not that happens, but those who are coming out to protest, who are they and what do they want?

Sinjab: These were people who are frustrated with the situation, who are frustrated with the repression, frustrated with poverty, frustrated with corruption, and that’s why they went out and called for all these changes.  And in [inaudible 3:37] part of the situation is the mistake that has been confessed actually today by the president’s advisor that the security and the governor took and arrested 15 children only because they wrote antigovernment slogan on the wall, and they detained them for 20 days…

Mullins: It was graffiti, basically.

Sinjab: Exactly, and they detained them.  And in response to that we heard that the governor has been sacked and as the presidential advisor said today, there are information they can announce and there are others they cannot announce, but there has definitely been mistakes and the right action has been taken.

Mullins: All right, the BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus, Syria, thank you very much for the latest.

Sinjab: Thank you.

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