Syria rocked by night protests over dialogue

NICOSIA—Protests were staged overnight in several towns in Syria against the opening on Sunday of a “national dialogue” hailed by the regime but boycotted by the opposition, rights activists said.

Some 5,000 people demonstrated in Deir Ezzor in the east of the country, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, adding there were also protests in three districts of the capital Damascus.

The army was also reported to be continuing a search and sweep operation in the Jebel al-Zawiya area of Idlib province in the northwest.

“Soldiers supported by tanks carried out searches in the villages of Kafarhaya, Sarjan and Al-Rami, and arrests were made in Kfar Nubol,” the Observatory said.

People were also detained in the flashpoint city of Hama 210 kilometers north of Damascus and in the coastal city of Banias, where the rights group reported five arrests of people “for filming demonstrations.”

Shooting was also heard at around dawn in the central city of Homs.

A meeting of the “national dialogue” in the capital was due to take place later on Monday.

Sunday’s inaugural session saw some 200 delegates take part, including independent MPs and members of the Baath party, in power since 1963.

Opposition figures boycotted the gathering in protest at the government’s continued deadly crackdown on unprecedented protests that erupted in mid-March against President Bashar al-Assad.

Human rights groups say that since the protests broke out, the security forces have killed more than 1,300 civilians and made at least 12,000 arrests.