Coming at a period of great turmoil and high expectations, the recent speech by President Bashar Al-Assad left many disappointed, says Bassel Oudat in Damascus The Syrians had waited for over a week for their president to comment on the turmoil. But when he finally spoke, he failed to meet their expectations. Ignoring the popular demands, Bashar Al-Assad didn't announce any immediate reforms or even a timetable. His speech failed to allay the raw emotions that triggered the biggest challenge yet to his 11-year hold on power. For Al-Assad, the situation in his country mostly boiled down to "the enemies of the country" hatching yet another "conspiracy" inspired "in its timing and shape" by the turmoil in other Arab countries. The president was willing to admit that the lack of reforms could be "detrimental", but he advised against hastiness. He said that "most Syrians have needs that remain unmet," adding that he will look into these at the right time. Al-Assad had words of praise for the people of Daraa, where the worst confrontations took place and where 60 men were killed. But he wasn't yet willing to hold accountable the security officials who fired at the protesters. In response to the speech, activists called for a demonstration on Friday, "to honour the martyrs". Opposition parties, rights activists, and bloggers called on the nation to take to the streets and demand political rights, press freedom, an end to the emergency laws, and the trial of corrupt officials. As the protests went into the third week, opposition figures voiced their discontent. Hassan Abdel-Azim, secretary-general of the Democratic Arab Socialist Union and spokesman of the Democratic National Alliance, said that the president's speech failed to meet the minimum of the people's demands. "We expected the speech to answer the urgent demands of the people. But those have been shoved aside. There is no common ground for reconciliation. The current crisis will continue and anything can happen," Abdel-Azim said. He dismissed as "unlikely" claims by presidential advisor Botheina Shaaban that Syria would descend into sectarian strife. Radwan Ziyada, director of the Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies, said that Al-Assad's references to "conspiracy" and "sedition", words that he repeated a dozen times during the speech, amounted to a "tacit threat". The US State Department spokesman said that the speech lacked substance and was disappointing to the Syrian people. The French foreign minister said that the speech was too vague, calling on the Syrian leadership to come up with tangible proposals. Amnesty International said that Al-Assad "slammed the door" in the face of reform. Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, ridiculed the speech in an editorial entitled "Better he remained silent". Al-Assad may be putting a brave face on it, but he is alarmed by the protests. Last Thursday, a day before the planned protests, he formed three committees to address popular demands. The first committee will look into lifting the emergency laws "while keeping the homeland safe and maintaining the fight against terror". The second committee will revise the 1962 census which deprived tens of thousands of Kurds of Syrian nationality. The third committee will investigate the killing of protesters in Daraa and Latakia. Too little and too late, protested the Syrian opposition. To have committees, mostly made up of men close to the regime, look into such urgent matters was not what the protesters had hoped for. Now, many are worried that the terrorism law, expected to replace the emergency laws, may be even tougher than the existing arrangements. "The formation of the committees doesn't mean anything. Whenever the leadership wants to kill a project, it refers it to committees. The state of emergency was declared without committees. The military declared the state of emergency outside legal procedure. So why do we need a committee to abolish it?" Haitham Al-Maleh, an 80-year-old lawyer, said. He pointed out that the president failed to release the country's prisoners of conscience, whose exact number is not known but believed to be several thousands. After the Friday prayers, thousands of protesters took to the streets in various cities, demanding public freedoms and, in some cases, a regime change. In Damascus, Daraa, Latakia, Homs, Hama, Deir Al-Zur, Al-Qamishli, and other areas, protesters chanted "Peaceful, peaceful" to keep the police from attacking them. The security forces reacted with teargas and fired shots in the air to disperse the demonstrators. Dozens of protesters were arrested. In Doma, Daraa and Homs, demonstrators clashed with the riot police. Ten people are said to have been killed, but the figure couldn't be confirmed. Most of the information available comes from bloggers and the social media. According to rights groups, more than 130 have been killed since the clashes erupted in mid March. Hoping to give an impression of normalcy, the Syrian official news agency SANA reported that "calm and normal life prevailed in the governorates after the Friday prayers. No clashes took place between the worshippers and the security forces in these gatherings." As amateur videos were posted on the Internet and relayed by satellite stations, the Syrian authorities revised their story. "Armed groups wearing masks have shot at citizens and the police forces, leading to many casualties among the citizens and the police force," an official Syrian source claimed. Although no sectarian slogan was reported during the protests, the Syrian television channel Al-Ikhbariya attributed the demonstrations to "sectarian strife". On Saturday, the authorities arrested dozens of protesters in the cities where the turbulence was at its worst. Activists in Doma, a town near Damascus, reacted by calling for a three-day general strike to protest the killing of civilians. Shops in Doma closed down right after the call for a strike was made. The White House urged Al-Assad to take tangible measures immediately toward reform. France, Canada, and Spain all voiced concern over the violence, while commending the courage of the demonstrators. Even Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Al-Assad to introduce reforms without further delay. Commenting on Al-Assad's failure to introduce timely reforms, commentators say that the president has an entourage of hard-line advisers who are telling him not to give in to the protesters. So how would this all end? Hassan Abdel-Azim, spokesman for the Syrian opposition parties, said that the "future remains open to all possibilities. The Syrian people are not acting upon orders from abroad. The people and the opposition have genuine demands for political reform, demands that go beyond social and economic measures. If those demands are not met, the crisis will continue." For now it is a standoff between a determined opposition and a president who's not willing to be seen as weak. Some would call it brinkmanship. Others would call it a recipe for disaster.
