AFP journalists reported that hundreds of protesters protested the burning of a Christmas tree in Hama in central Syria on Tuesday morning in Christian neighborhoods of Damascus.
Protesters yelled, “We demand the rights of Christians,” as they marched across the Syrian capital toward the Orthodox Patriarchate’s headquarters in the Bab Sharqi neighborhood.
Bashar al-Assad, who positioned himself as a champion of minorities in the Sunni-majority nation, had his administration overthrown by an armed coalition led by Islamists just over two weeks before to the protests.
AFP was informed by a protester who identified himself as Georges that he was demonstrating against “injustice against Christians.”
He stated that we no longer belong in this country if we are not permitted to practice our Christian faith as we once did.
A video of hooded militants burning a Christmas tree in the Christian-majority village of Suqaylabiyah, close to Hama, went viral on social media, sparking the demonstrations.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said the fighters were foreigners from the Islamist organization Ansar al-Tawhid.
A religious leader from the Syrian militant organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has won the war, spoke to locals in another video that was shared on social media. He said that the people who set the tree on fire were “not Syrian” and that they would face consequences.
He declared, “By tomorrow morning, the tree will be restored and illuminated.”
Founded by Al-Qaeda and backed by Turkey, the HTS movement has pledged to defend minorities ever since its lightning onslaught overthrew Assad this month after years of impasse.
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