Syria removes the head of the restive City police - Reuters

Demonstrators holding banners during a protest in the town of Banias, Syrian port on April 19, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/HandoutBy Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN. Wed, April 20, 2011 9: 00 am EDT

AMMAN (AFP) - the Chief of police in the Syrian city of Banias, was removed from the security, a rights group said Wednesday, after five civilians were killed in a campaign of repression against pro-democracy protests there last week.

The Syrian Observatory of human rights, citing sources in Damascus, the name of the agent as Amjad Abbas. The security forces had sealed off the city weekend after protests against President Bashar al-Assad and an attack by irregular forces loyal to El-Assad on the people who keep a Sunni mosque.

Inspired by uprisings across the Arab world, demonstrators took the streets more than a month demanding more freedoms, undaunted by a security crackdown.

Rights groups, who say more than 200 have been killed since the unrest began a month ago, have called for independent investigations into the actions of the security forces.

The last approach seemed another attempt to appease protesters, who has rejected appeals by the authorities to stop the demonstration and ignored a concession by the Government which approved legislation Tuesday to end the State of emergency in force for 48 years.

Abbas had been identified by the Banias residents said Observatory, the officer fired, as one of the security officers seen beating a villager in the town nearby Baida, according to a video.

With the Bill on the right of emergency, the newly appointed cabinet also approved legislation requires that the Syrians to obtain the permission of the State until they demonstrate.

DEFIANT PROTESTS

Hours earlier, the Ministry of the Interior asked citizens to refrain from protest to all the. Activists said the statement by the Ministry and the fact that the authorities Tuesday night arrested a figure of the left-wing opposition suggest move of the Government to lift the emergency law stop not repression.

The Defiant protests continued overnight, including in the suburbs of Damascus in Zabadane where demonstrators called "the fall of the regime" and for freedom, the rallying cry revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.

There are also sit-in in Jabla on the coast, women Barzeh Damascus rally and candlelight procession in such near the capital of the day to the next.

Homs, soldiers and irregular forces loyal to Assad dressed in black patrolled the road between two central squares, witnesses said. Shops is remained closed to protest more than 20 demonstrators was shot dead by security forces in the city since Monday, they said.

In the second city of the Syria, Aleppo, irregular forces Assad dispersed a small demonstration at the University of the city, beating several students and arresting 37, said rights activist.

The State Department, said the new law, apply for permits to hold demonstrations do not clear if the end of the State of emergency would be a less restrictive government.

A semi-official newspaper quoted an official source saying that assad would issue orders confirming the decisions of the Government, which also include the dissolution of the Supreme Court of the State of security, on Wednesday.

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Agreement to try to calm the restive Syrian City - Reuters

Women demonstrate, on the coastal road Baida, April 13, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/HandoutBy Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN. Thu April 14, 2011 6 pm EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian authorities sought to defuse tensions in Banias in agreeing to withdraw from the secret police feared the restive coastal town, replacing them with army patrols and to release imprisoned pro-democracy demonstrators.

Syrian forces walled Banias and surround the reservoir after a protest against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, 45, in the City Friday, during which demonstrators shouted "people want the overthrow of the regime."

The demonstration, echoing the cries of rallying of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, was part of a wave of unrest that have swept through the Syria in which a rights group said 200 people died. Students walk on Wednesday in the second city of Aleppo the Syria.

Loyalists irregular to El-Assad, called "al-shabbiha", has killed four people at Banias on Sunday, a rights activist said, raising tensions in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation governed by minority Alawi, acceding to an offshoot of Islam Shi'ite.

"Banias residents arrested in recent weeks are already filed," said the Syrian human rights observatory. "The army will go but there is also a pledge out of the secret police... and improve living conditions."

In the United States, France, Britain and other nations have urged Assad to refrain from violence in dealing with protests.

The Syria problems came to a head after police arrested more than a dozen children in the town of Deraa to graffiti inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the Arab world.

These events would have been unthinkable a few months ago this more closely controlled the Arab countries, where the Baath party has been in power for nearly 50 years. Modern Syria has obtained its independence from the France in 1946.

AHEAD OF THE FRIDAY PRAYER

Television Al Jazeera reported that the Syrian army had said Banias residents could enter the city, but he promised that no there is none of the attacks by the military.

The deal, struck in Damascus between an official of the Baath party and the imams and the personalities of Banias, was intended to help calm the city, is home to one of oil refineries two of the Syria, before the Friday prayer which have been a flash point.

Friday prayers have been mounting protests against the rule of iron of the Ba'ath party, which began in the city of the South of Deraa almost a month ago. The protests have spread to the suburbs of Damascus, North-East, the Mediterranean coast and other areas.

The Baath party has banned opposition and respect the laws of emergency since 1963. The wave of disorders presented Assad with the biggest challenge to his rule since he succeeded his father Hafez Al-Assad, who ruled for 30 years until his death in 2000.

Assad responded to demonstrations with a mixture of deadly force - security forces killed unarmed demonstrators, according to witnesses - and vague promises of reform have failed to dampen protests.

The Damascus Declaration, the basic rights of the Syria group, said that the balance of these events reached 200.

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