Six arrested following protest at Syrian embassy in London

At least 5,500 people have died in the country since pro-democracy campaigners
took to the streets last year protesting against President Bashar Assad’s
regime.

Human rights activists said on Friday night that Syrian forces had used tanks
and machine guns to kill at least 200 people and wound hundreds in Homs, in
what appeared to be the bloodiest episode since the uprising began.

Anass Toma, a Syrian MBA student, attended the protest at the Syrian embassy
in response to the violence in Homs.

Speaking to BBC News, Mr Toma said: “We came to the embassy because there
were 300 people killed in Syria today.

“People are angry. I’m worried about the situation back home. I’ve been
in London two years but I’m Syrian, from Aleppo.

“We don’t know what message the Syrian regime is giving out with this
massacre today – given the UN Security Council vote … we don’t really
understand what they’re doing. But we must stop the bloodshed in Syria.”

Ronan McNern, a supporter of the Occupy London movement, described the scenes
in London and said it appeared paint had been thrown on to a door of the
embassy.

He added: “The protesters are being held on the other side of the road
from the embassy.

“There are 150 people surrounded by a ring of about 60 police officers,
who are carrying truncheons. There are also about 12 police vans.

“The protesters are keeping their spirits up by singing, dancing and
playing drums, and they seem to be free to leave the ring. Some of them are
waving Syrian flags.”

In Egypt around 50 protesters tore down the gate to the Syrian embassy in
Cairo, ransacking the building and setting fire to the ground floor.

Police in Berlin also said that around 20 people had forced their way into the
Syrian embassy in the German capital, damaging offices and spraying slogans
on to the walls.

Moves towards a vote by the UN Security council comes after US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in a bid to overcome Russian opposition to any statement that
explicitly calls for regime change or military intervention in Syria.

Western powers have ruled out military action but want the world body to
endorse an Arab League plan that calls on the president to hand power over
to Syria’s vice president.

According to a State Department spokesman, Mrs Clinton and Mr Lavrov agreed
that American and Russian diplomats would continue work on a Syria
resolution and were planning to meet for more talks over the weekend.

Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Moscow could not support
the resolution in its current form, but expressed optimism that an agreement
could be reached, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary William Hague made an impassioned plea
for the UN to support moves to bring a peaceful resolution to the unrest.

At the security council in New York, he said the risk of civil war was
intensifying and the threat to the stability of the region growing.

Mr Hague said: “With each day that passes, finding a way back from the
brink will be harder and innocent lives will be needlessly and wrongfully
lost, deaths which this council could help to avert by acting in a united
manner.”

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