Pr0test in Syria after Christmas tree gets burnt

Pr0tests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting calls for the new Islamist authorities to take steps to protect minorities.

A video posted on social media showed the tree on fire in the main square of Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main Islamist faction that led the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad, said foreign f!ghters had been detained over the incident.

HTS representatives have promised to protect the rights and freedoms of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and assured the crowd who had gathered in Suqaylabiyah that the tree would be repaired before morning.

In the early hours of Tuesday, more protesters took to the streets over the arson att@ck, including in parts of the capital Damascus.

Some in the Kassa neighborhood of Damascus chanted against foreign f!ghters in Syria.

“Syria is free, non-Syrians should leave,” they said.

In the Bab Touma neighborhood of Damascus, pr0testers carried a cross and Syrian flags, chanting “We will sacrifice our souls for our cross”.

“If we’re not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don’t belong here anymore.” 

Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia, and Arab Sunnis, the last of whom make up a majority of the Muslim population.

HTS remains designated as a terr0rist organization by the UN, US, EU, and UK. The US placed a $10m (£7.9m) bounty on the head of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives from the group.

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