Syria strikes
July 23, 2011
Areas of Syria held a general strike on Saturday a day after eight protesters were killed during an anti-regime demonstration.
Heavy gunfire was reported in the near deserted central city of Homs and several shops were burnt down.
Reports of explosions in the Military Academy in Homs also emerged on Saturday, but these there denied by a Syrian military force.
Members of the Facebook group, The Syrian Revolution 2011, called the strike to show their support for activists who took part in massive anti-government rallies around the country on Friday.
Security forces used violence to disperse demonstrators as an estimated 1.2 million people took to the streets to protest against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
At least eight people were killed in Homs, in Syria's second city Aleppo, in Idlib near the Turkish border and around Damascus, activists said.
Pro-democracy rallies have been centered in Homs since protests erupted on March 15 and more than 50 deaths were reported in the city in the last week.
Crimes against humanity
UN officials expressed their concern on Friday at the brutal government crackdown.
A statement issued by Francis Deng, special adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Edward Luck, special adviser on the responsibility to protect, said that the violence could amount to "crimes against humanity."
"Based on available information, the special advisers consider that the scale and gravity of the violations indicate a serious possibility that crimes against humanity may have been committed and continue to be committed in Syria," the joint statement said.
They called for an "independent, thorough, and objective investigation" of the events in Syria and repeated Ban Ki-moon's request to allow humanitarian access to areas affected by the unrest.
"Without these steps, it will be very difficult to defuse existing tensions and to prevent the escalation of violence," they said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said the total number of civilians killed in the last four months has reached 1,483, with thousands more arrests.
A ban on most foreign media and human rights groups has made reports difficult to verify.
The strike began as state television reported that a Syrian passenger train was derailed near Homs early Saturday after the track was sabotaged. The driver was killed, but there were no fatalities among the 485 passengers.
"For sure, it is a subversive act," George Essa, Director of the Railways Authority in Homs told Syria News.
Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Ben Knight