Global Arab Network | Syrian security forces kill at least 5 mourners

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Syrian security forces kill at least 5 mourners

Global Arab Network - - Talal Abdullah

Saturday, 08 October 2011 22:53

Syrian_security_forces_kill_at_least_5_mourners

Global Arab Network - Syrian security forces killed at least 5 mourners and wounded several others when they fired on the funeral of murdered Kurdish opposition figure Meshaal Tamo on Saturday, activists said.

The shooting came as dissidents lobbied in Cairo for the recognition of newly formed opposition front the Syrian National Council (SNC), of which Tamo was a member.

"Two people were killed during a shooting against the funeral procession of the martyr Meshaal Tamo in the city of Qamishli," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement, adding that several others were wounded.

The funeral for Tamo, who was gunned down on Friday in Qamishli in the north, became a mass rally with more than 50,000 demonstrators calling for fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Tamo founded the liberal Kurdish Future Party, which considers Kurds an integral part of Syria, and had been recently released after three and a half years in prison.

His killing also sparked indignation abroad.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton firmly condemned the murder.

"The High Representative condemns in the strongest terms the murder," a statement issued on her behalf said, adding that Tamo's death "follows other targeted assassinations in the past days, which are totally unacceptable.

"These appalling crimes further add to the EU's grave concern over the situation in Syria. All those responsible for and complicit in these crimes must be held accountable."

In Beirut, 50 activists gathered outside the Syrian embassy to demand that Assad step down, and in Vienna 11 people were arrested overnight for invading Damascus's embassy and demonstrating on a balcony.

The United States on Friday said Assad's regime is escalating its tactics against the opposition with bold attacks on its leaders, and France said it was "shocked" by the news Tamo's murder.

"This is a clear escalation of regime tactics," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

"We are shocked by the assassination of opposition figure Meshaal Tamo... and by the attack on opposition figure Riad Seif," who was beaten by a mob outside a mosque in Damascus, a French foreign ministry spokesman said.

Yesterday, commenting on Universal Periodic Review on Syria at the UN Human Rights Council, the Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

“At the UN Human Rights Council today in Geneva we raised the Syrian regime’s systematic torture, rape and arbitrary detention of thousands of men, women and children. The Syrian Government should immediately end the violence, release all prisoners of conscience and allow free, unhindered and immediate access to the UN for an independent assessment of the situation on the ground.

“President Assad’s promises of reform have delivered nothing. The lifting of a state of emergency has only led to more arrests. More than 2,900 civilians have now been killed. The Syrian Government’s attempts to justify their brutality at the Universal Periodic Review today are shameful.

“The UK will take every opportunity to highlight the abuses in Syria that show no sign of ending, and to put the spot light on cases such as that of Imad Zeitoun who has not been heard of since his violent arrest in August. The UK will intensify pressure on the regime wherever we can. The Syrian people have not been forgotten.”

Global Arab Network

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