Vienna -Demonstrate against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the 13th Anniversary of the Revolution

Vienna : The demonstration was led by Abdulhkeem Alshater from the association “Free Syrian Community of Austria”. As the pictures below show, demonstrators also expressed their solidarity with the people in Palestine.

On Sunday afternoon, a crowd gathered at Vienna’s Westbahnhof train station to demonstrate against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The meeting point was Christian-Brode-Platz in Vienna’s sixth district. According to the Vienna police, 1,000 people were registered. It was not possible to quantify how many actually came during the event.

After the protest, a march to Human Rights Square was planned. About 2,000 Syrian migrants marched in Vienna at the 13th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution. It was an extraordinarily lively demonstration with people alternating chanting and singing against the dictatorship of Assad.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is considered a ruthless dictator. Many initially hoped that Assad would usher in an era of democratic reform after his father, who served for 29 years. He largely continued the authoritarian methods. This was evident, among other things, in the violent suppression of the Arab Spring protests in 2011. In addition to torture and imprisonment, he used the military against the demonstrators.

The SNHR network estimates that there have been over 230,000 civilian deaths since March 2011, some of which were attributed to the Assad regime and IS. Over 15,300 people, including almost 200 children, are said to have died as a result of torture. Over 110,000 are believed to have been forcibly abducted and are still missing.

The march was addressed by several Syrian speakers as well as one from Ukraine. Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the RCIT, was the first speaker at the final rally. He emphasized that the Syrian Revolution is still living, and that this demonstration confirmed this.

Michael sent greetings both to the heroic peoples in Syria as well as in Palestine – fighting for their freedom against tyranny. He pointed to the reactionary role of imperialist Great Powers with Russia backing Assad and the U.S. supporting Israel. Michael concluded his speech that Syria can only be free if the working people take political power as well as the economy in their own hands.