DAMASCUS: Thousands protested Wednesday in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country’s north, a war monitor and witnesses said.
Syria’s new authorities said the footage was “old” and that “unknown groups” were behind the attack, saying “republishing” the video served to “stir up strife,” a day after hundreds protested in Damascus against the torching of a Christmas tree.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “thousands of people” took to the streets on Wednesday, with major demonstrations in the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, provinces that are the heartland of the Alawite minority which deposed ruler Bashar Assad hails from.
The Britain-based Observatory also reported protests in parts of the central city of Homs and other areas including Qardaha, Assad’s hometown.
Witnesses told AFP demonstrations broke out in Tartus, Latakia and nearby Jableh, where images showed large crowds in the streets, some chanting slogans including “Alawite, Sunni, we want peace.”
State news agency SANA said police in central Homs imposed a curfew from 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) until 8:00 am on Thursday, while local authorities in Jableh also announced a nighttime curfew.
The Observatory said the protests erupted after a video began circulating earlier Wednesday showing “an attack by fighters” on an important Alawite shrine in the Maysaloon district of Syria’s second city Aleppo.
It said five workers were killed, adding that the shrine was set ablaze.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the video was filmed early this month, after militants led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) launched a lightning offensive and seized control of major cities including Aleppo on December 1, ousting Assad a week later.
AFP was unable to independently verify the footage or the date of the incident.
The new authorities’ interior ministry also said the footage was “old and dates to the time of the liberation” of the Aleppo this month.
The attack was carried out by “unknown groups,” the ministry statement said, adding that “republishing” the footage served to “stir up strife among the Syrian people at this sensitive stage.”
Protester Ali Daoud said thousands attended the demonstration in Jableh, adding that: “We are calling for those who attacked the shrine to be held to account.”
Images showed a large crowd marching in the streets brandishing the three-star independence-era flag.
“No to burning holy places and religious discrimination, no to sectarianism, yes to a free Syria,” one protest placard read.
In the city of Latakia, protesters decried “violations” against the Alawite community, said protester Ghidak Mayya, 30.
“For now... we are listening to calls for calm,” he said, warning that too much pressure on the community “risks an explosion.”
Tartus resident and protester, Alaa, 33, expressed concern that the situation could deteriorate, saying that “a single drop of blood risks us back to very bad scenario.”
Assad long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Sunni Muslim-majority Syria.
Alawites fear backlash against their community both as a minority religious group and because of its long association with Assad’s family.
On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators protested in Christian areas of Damascus against the burning of a Christmas tree near central Syria’s Hama, with HTS vowing to restore it promptly.
