{"id":127390,"date":"2025-07-19T07:46:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=127390"},"modified":"2025-07-19T07:46:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:46:52","slug":"armed-individuals-attack-activists-during-peaceful-protest-in-damascus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/127390\/","title":{"rendered":"Armed individuals attack activists during peaceful protest in Damascus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 <\/strong>Syrian activists said a group of men assaulted them with bladed weapons and wooden batons during a peaceful protest held in front of the People\u2019s Assembly building in Damascus on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Syrian activists organized the protest to condemn the ongoing violence in Suwayda, southern Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Syrian civil society members called for the protest, a silent sit-in, to demand an end to the bloodshed in Suwayda and to advocate for dialogue and national reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Activists were subjected to verbal and physical assaults outside the People\u2019s Assembly during a silent protest calling for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and for the opening of communication and dialogue channels,&#8221; activist and journalist Zeina Shahla said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Facebook post, Shahla added that a group of assailants armed with wooden sticks attacked the demonstrators as they dispersed at the end of the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;They pursued us even as we tried to avoid confrontation and leave the area without engaging in any clashes,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Videos circulating online show the attackers shouting insults and accusing the protesters of treason. Zeina Shahla herself was reportedly subjected to both verbal and physical assault, as documented in the footage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her post, Shahla called for the enactment of \u201cclear and firm legislation against the dominant culture of incitement\u201d and urged the launch of a broad national dialogue to help the country escape what she described as \u201ca dark tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zeina Shahla, a prominent Syrian activist and journalist, had previously been detained by the former Syrian regime due to her political activism. She currently serves as an advisor on the National Committee for the Missing, a body established in May by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Transitional President of Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Syrian government has not yet issued a statement regarding the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Abdulsalam Khoja<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Syrian activists said a group of men assaulted them with bladed weapons and wooden batons during a peaceful protest held in front of the People\u2019s Assembly building in Damascus on Friday. The Syrian activists organized the protest to condemn the ongoing violence in Suwayda, southern Syria. Syrian civil society members [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":127391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-home","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Armed individuals attack activists during peaceful protest in Damascus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Syrian activists said a group of men assaulted them with bladed weapons and wooden batons during a peaceful protest held\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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