Rare demonstration held in southern Syria to demand better living conditions

Hundreds of people gathered Friday in the city of As-Suwayda in southern Syria to demand democracy and improve living conditions in a rare demonstration, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

For the fifth day in a row, more than 300 people gathered in As-Suwayda, after the authorities mistakenly deleted 600,000 families registered in a government aid program, according to the Britain-based observatory, which draws its information from a wide network of sources in Syria.

In a video recording of the local media platform "Al-Suwayda 24", a young man in traditional Druze dress says, "We set out to unite the Syrians, not to divide them. We want a civil, just and democratic state."

As-Suwayda is a stronghold of the Druze.

In the video, an elderly Druze clergyman says, "Obviously expensive, we are unable to live, and we do not obtain our rights, neither gas nor diesel," adding, "We want to live in a homeland that preserves our dignity and rights."

As of early February, the authorities have written off large numbers of Syrians who were benefiting from food and fuel subsidies programs, which aroused the resentment of the population at a time when about 90 percent of them are below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

Nour Radwan told the "Sweida 24" platform that the participants in the movement "most of them are demonstrating for the first time in their lives, and the reason is the poor economic conditions and the cutting off of support."

In 2020, As-Suwayda Governorate witnessed similar demonstrations, but on a smaller scale.

Syria is witnessing a bloody conflict with multiple sides, which, since its outbreak in 2011, has caused the death of nearly half a million people, massive destruction of infrastructure, and the displacement of more than half of the population inside and outside the country.

Before the war, the Druze made up about three percent of the country's population, and largely sought to distance themselves from the conflict in Syria.