For about 3 months, opposition areas in northwestern Syria have been experiencing popular demonstrations against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its leader al-Julani, which began in Sarmada and then included several cities in Idlib province and rural Aleppo.
Arrests have increased significantly over the past months against the backdrop of demonstrations that affected civilians, and demonstrations began in all cities and towns of Idlib countryside and spread to Aleppo countryside, on February 25, 2024, in the city of Sarmada in Idlib countryside, when the demonstrators demanded the release of detainees and the dissolution of the General Security Agency.
After the demonstrations reached several cities, the demonstrators raised demands for the overthrow of the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (al-Julani) and the immediate release of the detainees, whose families confirmed that they were detained for political reasons.
The demonstrations were met with promises, reforms, and meetings between al-Julani and the Salvation Government (the executive umbrella of the commission) and the Shura Council (the political umbrella of the commission), which resulted in a general amnesty for detainees but within conditions and exceptions, and committees were formed to listen to civilian claims, among others.
Confronting demonstrations
Since the beginning of the demonstrations, Tahrir al-Sham has deployed security personnel on main roads and the most prominent towns and cities and has set up checkpoints on several roads to prevent the demonstrations from reaching the center of Idlib.
Tahrir al-Sham security officers also assaulted protesters on separate occasions, such as firing bullets in the air and attempting to run over demonstrators, as shown in videos circulating on social media.
https://www.facebook.com/mohmad.dabel/videos/821516362890598/?ref=embed_video&t=44
Response of the de facto government
On May 15, 2024, Al-Julani confirmed that most of the protesters’ demands were met except for some of them, considering that the demands deviated from their true course and turned into a state of obstruction of public interests, and warned that any prejudice to public interests and rules is “crossing red lines,” and that the authority will move to confront this matter.
Initiatives for the solution
On March 12, 2024, one of the initiatives aimed at solving problems in the region, the “Karama Initiative”, was launched, and included 12 demands, including the resignation of Al-Julani from his post.
On May 8, 2024, he announced the establishment of the “Revolutionary Movement Gathering” in Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo, which includes the “Gathering of Revolutionary Forces Against Injustice, Corruption and Tyranny”, and one of the objectives of the group, according to its founding statement, is to overthrow “the project of tyranny, corruption and injustice represented by Al-Julani by peaceful means, dissolve the Public Security Agency and whitewash prisons, and form a real Shura Council that combines efficiency and honesty in accordance with “Sharia” controls and enjoys full supervisory powers over all institutions and takes into account the correct representation of segments of society.
Right to expression
The right to freedom of expression and demonstrations is enshrined inArticle 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets out in the broad sense the human rights enjoyed by every person, and these rights were later legally protected by a series of international and regional treaties.
According to an Amnesty International report, people have the right to peaceful protest, and states have to respect, facilitate, and protect this right. This means that they should not interfere in demonstrations unless there is a legitimate threat to the safety and rights of others.
Amnesty said in its report that if demonstrations must be stopped or curtailed by the police, their intervention must be proportionate and necessary.
Amnesty urged the authorities to activate safer roads and provide multiple services to protesters, such as traffic management and access to first aid services, but Amnesty International considered that in many cases the intervention of state authorities was the reason why the peaceful unrest turned into serious and violent events.
What happens during demonstrations?
Protesters exercise a variety of universally recognized human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including other rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest, torture, and other ill-treatment, Amnesty said, and the right to demonstrate is guaranteed under international human rights law through provisions set out in various international and regional treaties that provide protesters with comprehensive protection.
Amnesty International said protesting was a very valuable way to confront the authorities with the truth, stressing that the right to freedom of expression is a precious right that is being attacked and that those rights must be protected “from those who fear change, who want to keep people divided.”
Amnesty and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the right to free expression threatens governments and other powerful people, so they are constantly looking for ways to prevent demonstrations.
The “Same Justice” organization stresses the need for freedom of expression in accordance with human rights laws, stresses the need to protect demonstrators and their rights, protect them from violations, and calls for the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in the detention centers of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the rest of the prisons and detention centers in Syria.
