On Sunday Al Jazeera interviewed Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Shabban: “The decision to lift the Emergency Law [in effect since 1963 and restricting political freedom] has already been taken.”
…..
Interviewer: “Are you saying the Emergency Law will be lifted?”
Shabban: “Absolutely.”
CNN reports today:
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad defied expectations Wednesday, making no mention of lifting a state of emergency in a national address where he was widely expected to do so.
He acknowledged that Syrians want reform and that the government has not met their needs in a rambling 45-minute speech to the National Assembly.
But he made few concrete promises after weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have left 73 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch.
Syria’s government will not fall like a domino in a string of Arab revolutions, the president insisted, saying that instead Syria had kicked the dominos of the “conspirators” and that they had fallen instead.
Al-Assad also blamed unrest in his country on “enemies… working daily and scientifically to undermine the stability of Syria.” He said they were “stupid in choosing to target Syria.”
And of course:
He said the objective of the conspirators, who make up a minority, was to “fragment and bring down Syria” and “enforce an Israeli agenda.”
You can watch a bit of Assad’s speech here, in which he seems to be saying that responding to the demands of the demonstrators would be a sign of weakness. Does he sound as befuddled to you as he does to me?
Update: Haaretz reports:
Thousands of Syrian demonstrators took to the streets on Wednesday, hours after embattled President Bashar Assad blamed the ongoing ant-government protests on foreign “plots hatched against our county”.
The protesters marched through the port city of Latakia and the restive southern town of Daraa chanting “freedom”. Security forces confronted the demonstrators in Latakia and witnesses reported hearing shots fired in the al-Sleibeh old district of the city, where one of at least two demonstrations took place.
While Assad delivered his speech in parliament, opposition members called on the protesters to “go down into the streets now and announce the uprising – control all the cities and declare civil disobedience from this moment onward.”
