HUNDREDS OF pro-government demonstrators drove through the streets of Damascus yesterday, hooting car horns and chanting slogans against the Arab League which is threatening to impose sanctions on Syria if it does not halt the military crackdown on protests.
The government said two policemen had been killed in the central city of Hama while the opposition local co-ordination committees reported 15 slain in anti-regime rallies in Idlib and Hama provinces and a restive suburb of the capital.
The “Syrian Free Army”, which has claimed recent attacks on military installations, announced that 50 former soldiers, calling themselves the “Eagles of Damascus” have joined opposition forces.
A rebel unit claimed an attack on an armoured vehicle in the locked-down city of Homs, killing crew members. This incident could not be verified by independent observers.
Syria has agreed “in principle” to allow an Arab League observer mission into the country and is expected to grant visas to foreign media currently denied entry. The mission, originally meant to include 500 doctors, lawyers and military men, has been cut to 40.
Damascus has proposed amendments to the mission’s mandate which league chief Nabil el-Arabi said are under study.
The mission could also be jeopardised by the demand put forward by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco that the Security Council adopt a resolution drafted by France, the UK, and Germany but opposed by veto-wielding powers Russia and China.
In Cairo, tens of thousands of Egyptians flowed into Tahrir Square in the largest popular demonstration in five months. The rally, dubbed the “Friday of One Demand”, was called by the Muslim Brotherhood and joined by radical Salafi fundamentalists and secular movements demanding the government drop a proposal for the inclusion of enhanced powers for the military in the constitution due to be drafted next year.
The brotherhood said the provision amounted to a charter for “dictatorship” and pledged further mass action if it is not shelved.
In Alexandria, 20,000 demonstrators called for an end to mili- tary rule and chanted, “Down with the field marshal” – Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, the chief of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Hundreds rallied in the Suez Canal city of Ismailya while Salafis staged demonstrations in a number of provincial towns.
The huge numbers of protesters in Tahrir Square and elsewhere demonstrated the ability of the brotherhood and its allies to stage mass rallies ahead of the November 28th parliamentary election.