(New York Times) Neil MacFarquhar - A violent clampdown by Syrian security forces against a student demonstration at Aleppo University ended with at least four students killed, including one heaved out a fifth-floor window, and scores arrested, activists and opposition organizations said Thursday. The suppression prompted sympathy rallies at universities around Syria and a large march in Aleppo with protesters chanting "We don't want Bashar!" Aleppo University is one of the country's largest public universities with 60,000 students and President Assad enjoys significant backing among many of the students. Student supporters of the government and the thugs known as shabiha helped the police and soldiers put down the demonstration, activists said. It was fellow students and shabiha who threw Samer Qawass, an 18-year-old Islamic studies student from Idlib, out of the fifth-floor window in Building 17, killing him.
2012-05-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive