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"Bashar
out, Syria free!" shouted a large crowd in the southern Druze
city of Sweida. "Syria is not a farm, we are not sheep," read
another poster.
Syria is in a deep economic crisis that saw its currency plunge
to a record 15,500 Syrian pounds to the dollar last month in a
rapidly accelerating free-fall. It traded at 47 pounds to the
dollar at the start of the conflict 12 years ago.
Demonstrations broke out in Sweida in August over the removal of
fuel subsidies. Home province of most of Syria's Druze
community, Sweida remained in government hands throughout the
war and was largely spared the violence seen elsewhere.
Open criticism of the government remained rare in the areas it
controls but as the economic situation grew worse, the
discontent has gone public.
Friday's turnout was large despite apparent divisions within the
Druze leadership over the demonstrations. Some Druze sheikhs
have criticized protesters' calls for Assad to step down and say
that any improvement to the socioeconomic situation must come
through dialogue.
Dozens also gathered on Friday in the province of Daraa, where
the 2011 protests kicked off. They carried the three-star flag
emblematic of Syria's uprising, as well as signs criticising the
role of Iran, a key Assad ally.
Residents of other government-held parts of Syria - where
restrictions are tighter - have made more discrete gestures of
protest to avoid detection by government forces.
In the coastal province of Tartus on Thursday, some residents
held up small postcards reading "Syria belongs to us, not to the
(ruling) Ba'ath party", according to photographs posted on
activists' social media pages. A large billboard portraying
Assad's picture could be seen in the background.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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