Today, Sunday, demonstrations took place in the As-Suwayda governorate, southern Syria, in protest against the deteriorating living conditions. Local sources said that one person was killed and others injured after the regime forces fired bullets at protesters in the vicinity of the governorate building.

The sources stated that the security personnel stationed between the governorate building and the police headquarters continued to shoot.

Sources from As-Suwayda reported - earlier - that demonstrators stormed the governorate building, after they went out in a demonstration, raising banners to denounce the deterioration of living conditions and the inability of the Syrian regime to secure the people's needs of heating materials, electricity, and the rest of basic services and commodities.

The protesters in front of the governorate building chanted, "The people want the fall of the regime," before some of them stormed the building located in the city center of As-Suwayda.

A video clip - circulating on social media platforms - showed a protester ascending to the second floor of the governorate building and tearing up a picture of President Bashar al-Assad.

And the "Suwayda 24" news website reported that demonstrators set fire to a security armored vehicle belonging to the regime in the city center after it entered among them to disperse them, and they also took control of a four-wheel drive car equipped with a machine gun that tried to disperse them.

Alert regime forces

Following the outbreak of the demonstrations - on Sunday morning - the governorate witnessed a security alert for regime forces and local militias, while the protesters blocked a number of roads inside the city of As-Suwayda.

Videos circulated showed heavy shooting from an unknown source at the demonstrators, which resulted in the injury of a number of them and their transfer to the hospital.

The local "Syrian Observatory" website reported that a demonstrator was killed and 7 others were wounded "by security forces' bullets" during today's protests.

The protests came after, in the past few days, calls for demonstrations and blocking of roads spread through social media platforms in the city of As-Suwayda, due to the worsening economic and living crises in the governorate.

All areas controlled by the regime are witnessing the worst living and service reality since the outbreak of the conflict in the country 11 years ago, as the inflation rate rose to unprecedented levels, and the dollar exchange rate reached 5,700 pounds during the current month.

Syrians are now suffering from a sharp decline in purchasing power due to their salaries, which average no more than 150,000 Syrian pounds (approximately $25), in exchange for the continuous rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs.

They also suffer from the scarcity of fuel and its non-availability on the black market except in scarce and astronomical prices, in addition to the power outages for long periods of up to 20 and 22 hours per day in some areas.

protest wallpapers

Khalil, a writer and journalist from As-Suwayda, told Al-Jazeera Net that, in addition to all these economic and living challenges that Syrians generally face in the areas of the regime, the people of As-Suwayda from the Druze minority face "a clear governmental deprivation of fuel and services, and a security chaos that is being exploited by gangs and militias that kidnap, kill and extort their children." province, and there is an unprecedented spread of narcotic drugs without accountability for dealers and promoters.”

He added, "Today, it is not the first time that the people of the province have come out to demand that the government assume its responsibilities. In 2019, demonstrations took place calling for an improvement in living conditions, and in 2020, the We Want to Live movement began to demonstrate and demand the minimum necessities for a decent life."

Likewise, "in December of last year, demonstrations took place, and also at the beginning of this year, demonstrators came out demanding the minimum of everything."

And he continues, "Every time, sheikhs and civil groups, allied with the regime or afraid of its reaction, intervened to contain the demonstrations and the popular anger of the protesters in the hope of improving the service and living conditions, but the reality kept getting worse and worse until securing a bundle of bread became difficult for many families.”

A vehicle belonging to the security forces catches fire (Reuters, quoting As-Suwayda 24)

Khalil believes that the general atmosphere in the province could not tolerate more than calls from the two young men, Shadi Abu Ammar and Munif Rashid, to explode, "which we saw today in As-Suwayda."

After the protesters were dispersed this afternoon, activist Shadi Abu Ammar renewed - through his Facebook account - his calls to the people of As-Suwayda in the city and villages to join the demonstrations tomorrow, Monday.

The city of As-Suwayda has witnessed repeated protests over the past few years, the latest of which took place in February of this year.