Pressure mounts on Syria's Assad

THOUSANDS OF people attended a funeral procession yesterday for demonstrators killed in the Syrian city of Homs amid little sign…

THOUSANDS OF people attended a funeral procession yesterday for demonstrators killed in the Syrian city of Homs amid little sign of pressure easing on the president, Bashar al-Assad.

Activists and witnesses said at least eight people were killed at a demonstration on Sunday night in Homs as the unprecedented popular protest movement that has shaken the country for the past month maintained its momentum.

There were also reports of protester deaths in Latakia.

A witness quoted by Reuters said yesterday’s crowd was calling for the end of the regime, a refrain that has surfaced only relatively recently in the Syrian protest.

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Despite the state’s close monitoring of the population, Syria has seen growing protests in the past month against corruption, the country’s repressive emergency laws and the arbitrary behaviour of security forces.

Human rights groups say at least 200 people have been killed since demonstrations began. While initially concentrated in the tribal area of Deraa, demonstrations have since spread to larger cities such as Damascus, the capital, Aleppo and Homs.

Although the protest in Syria is thought to be driven by grassroots activists, yesterday the Washington Post published material from leaked diplomatic cables revealing that the US had funded Syrian opposition figures in exile.

Syria has been run by the Baath party since 1963. Unlike former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Tunisian president Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, both of whom were ousted by popular protest movements earlier this year, Mr Assad is not an ally of the US, and has provided support to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, and Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia movement.

Analysts say political turmoil in Syria could have serious consequences for the region.

In a televised address on Saturday, Mr Assad promised to lift the country’s emergency laws, which have been in place since 1963, and which have been used to crush dissent. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)