March 18, 2011: The birth of a revolution

March 18, 2011: The birth of a revolution
The first large-scale demonstrations that marked the official beginning of the Syrian Revolution broke out in four Syrian cities on Friday, March 18, 2011.

The largest protest of the day was held in the southern city of Daraa where several thousand people gathered to demand the resignation of the mayor and the leader of the local branch of the security police after their heinous response to citizens’ demands for the release of 23 schoolboys being held in arbitrary detention since February.

Additional demonstrations were held on the same day in the cities of Banyas, Homs and Damascus following posts on “The Syrian Revolution 2011” Facebook page calling for a "Friday of Dignity".

Responding to the call, protesters hit the streets after Friday prayer chanting “God, Syria, Freedom” and demanding an end to government corruption and repression. They were met with violent opposition by state security forces. 

On March 18, 2011, two unarmed young demonstrators were killed when police opened fire on the crowd in Daraa and others were injured in the brutal crackdown by Assad regime forces’ response to the people’s calls for government reform.

Until that day, antigovernment demonstrations had been virtually unknown in Syria where political opposition had been brutally suppressed for more than 40 years of Assad family rule.

Smaller protests had been occurring since Tuesday of that week in the Syrian capital of Damascus with every gathering of citizen activists being violently dispersed by the regime’s security officers who arrested scores of demonstrators, including women and children.  

On that Friday, a crowd gathered outside the city’s al-Omari Mosque and tried to march while chanting slogans but were charged and beaten by a pro-government group according to the testimony of witnesses at the time.

At the same time, about 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Khaled bin al Waleed Mosque in the central city of Homs. They were also assaulted and many arrests were made. 

But the residents of Homs were not deterred by the regime’s attempts to intimidate them and went on to become known as the heart of the Syrian Revolution for their dedication and perseverance to the pursuit of freedom and democracy for all Syrians.  

In Banyas, on the coast of the Mediterranean, a similar group of demonstrators numbered in the hundreds did the same. All entrances to the city were closed shortly after the crowd assembled according to a local lawyer who had spoken to a reporter from the New York Times on the condition his identity not be disclosed.

But that Friday’s demonstration in Daraa was the first time that live ammunition was used on civilians in what was soon to become the regime’s normal response to the Friday protests that began to occur all over Syria on a regular basis from that point on.

“They used live ammunition immediately, no tear gas or anything else,” another witness who spoke on condition of anonymity had told NYT in 2011.

From the very beginning, Assad used the regime’s official news service, SANA, to make claims that the demonstrations were the work of foreign conspirators and “terrorists”.

Sarah al-Hourani, who now works as a volunteer for the White Helmets in Daraa, recently spoke to Orient Net about what it was like to be there at that time.

“Like most of the people, I was astonished and shocked to witness the demonstration on that Friday,” al-Hourani told Orient Net.  

“We were also scared, especially after the shooting and chasing of demonstrators down the streets, alleys and sidewalks. It was surprise mixed with fear.”

“In the end all I can say is that free Syrian people gave birth to a great revolution,” said al-Hourani. “We asked for freedom and dignity — not for killing, destruction and terrorism.”

“The Assad regime is the root of terrorism and has arrested many revolutionary figures — activists, intellectuals and educated people.

“In return the brutal Assad regime intentionally set free criminals, murderers and al-Qaeda leaders out of the jails to deform our revolution

“Unfortunately, the Assad regime and outside perpetrators have succeeded in implementing 90 percent of his dirty plan.”

Al-Hourani told Orient Net that even after all the death and destruction she has witnessed in the past six years, she would follow the same revolutionary steps and do it all over again if she could go back in time.

The only thing she says that she would do differently if she could would be to work harder to make sure that the revolution did not deviate from its original goals and to prevent it from being stolen by those who had alternative agendas.

“The world doesn’t recognize our revolution, but they know ISIS. And despite the fact that the criminality and brutality of Assad exceeds that of his Shia militia allies and ISIS hundreds of times over, the world has chosen to be blind to the truth for their own purposes in order to achieve the suppression of all peoples and bring them under the control of self-serving authorities wherever they are found.”

Six years later, Syria’s freedom seekers are still determined though their homeland lies in ruins. But there is one thing on which they can all agree: The Syrian Revolution continues until the Assad regime is toppled.

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