Syria Continues Attack on Dissent; Mubarak Trial Begins in Cairo

05 August 2011

In this image made from amateur video released by the so-called Shams News Network, a loosely organized anti-Assad group and accessed via The Associated Press Television News on Aug. 1, 2011, military armored vehicles are seen in the central city of Hama, Syria.

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Tens of thousands of Syrians demonstrated against the government on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Late in the day, witnesses and activists said at least fifteen people were killed when government forces fired on demonstrators. They said most of the deaths happened around Damascus. Protests also took place in other Syrian cities.

Demonstrators called for President Bashar al-Assad to resign.

The city of Hama has been under military attack since Sunday. A political activist in Hama told VOA that government forces have been raiding the homes of activists and carrying out arrests and killings. Still, he said, there were protests in Hama on Friday.

The Syrian government launched a violent campaign against pro-democracy protesters in March. American officials estimate that more than two thousand people have been killed in the attacks on protesters. On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on other countries to join the United States in taking action.

HILLARY CLINTON: “But not just US sanctions because, frankly, we do not have lot of business with Syria. We need to get Europeans and others. We need to get the Arab states. We need to get a much louder, more effective chorus of voices that are putting pressure on the Assad regime, and we’re working to obtain that.”