Syrian city of Hama blacked out

[oberliner]

Source: Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian authorities kept the restive city of Hama under a blackout Thursday, cutting phone lines, Internet and electricity as part of a brutal, five-day-old crackdown on anti-government dissent. Activists expressed concern about worsening humanitarian conditions there, saying medical supplies and bread were in short supply even before the latest siege.

Security forces killed at least seven protesters in other parts of Syria overnight when they went out to demonstrate after special nighttime prayers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, activists said. Hozan Ibrahim, of the Local Coordination Committees which tracks the crackdown, said up to 30 people may have been killed in Hama Wednesday based on reports from fleeing residents. But the reports could not be immediately verified.

Phones and Internet in Hama have been cut or severely hampered for at least two days. Electricity has been out or sporadic since Sunday. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the London-based Observatory for Human Rights, said some 1,000 families have fled Hama in the past two days, most of them to the village of Mashtal Hilu west of Hama and al-Salamieh to the east.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-city-hama-blacked-135904073.html

[ChrisBorg]

1. Nothing to see here. Assad is our friend.

The whole Arab spring thing is soooo yesterday.

[leftynyc]

2. Do you want us to send troops?

The UN codemned Syria yesterday and our government since at least last week:

President Barack Obama is stepping up his criticism of Syria’s crackdown on protesters, charging that the Syrian president is “completely incapable and unwilling” to respond to what Obama calls the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-wake-of-deaths-obama-says-syrias-assad-completely-incapable-of-responding-to-grievances/2011/07/31/gIQAfpvZlI_story.html

Short of sending more troops and equipment(that we cannot afford), what would you like us to do? How about Russia? or China?

[oberliner]

4. I am just passing along the information

I think it's important to be informed about what's going on.

[BNJMN]

5. Obama *condemned* them? OMG, T- I - I - I - I - M - M - B - B - E - E - R - R-R-R-R-R-R ! ! ! ! ! !

:P

[Jefferson23]

3. Stop the bloodshed in Syria

As the violent suppression of peaceful protests by the Syrian authorities continues, the UN Security Council must take urgent action to stop human rights violations.

We have been calling for the events in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court, for an arms embargo and for a freeze on the assets of the Syrian President and his senior associates.

However, six members of the UN Security Council are currently blocking a draft resolution which condemns the violence.

These blockers include Brazil, India and South Africa. All three aspire to play a more important role on the UN Security Council which is why we believe that with enough international pressure, they can be persuaded to change their position.

We want to urge the governments of these three countries to join other members of the UN Security Council in acting to call on the Syrian government to stop the use of tanks, snipers and torture to suppress peaceful dissent.

UPDATE: 4 August 2011
The UN Security Council has condemned the Syrian government’s crackdown on protestors. Find out more on BBC News

In light of this news we have temporally closed this action while we reassess what needs to be done.

Thank you for your support.

http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=11245&utm_source=amnestyorg&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=MENA&utm_content=syriapetition_global%29%C2%A0

[David__77]

6. Oppose interference in Syrian affairs.

The heroes of "human rights" have no proposal with regard to how states can secure themselves against insurgencies and destabilization attempts that is not completely cynical. Instead, they demand that Syria unilaterally disarm itself against those using force of arms to attempt to seize power.