BREAKING: General Strike in Damascus

by Clay Claiborne

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday, Jul. 16, 2012 Monday, Jul. 16, 2012 at 9:26:21am PDT

MSM, even AJE doesn't have this yet!

This 5 minute You Tube clip, shot in Damascus this morning, doesn't show very much and I think that is the point. The car drives down empty streets past shuddered shops in the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world on a Monday morning and nothing is going on, no pedestrians and few vehicles.

A General Strike is going on in Damascus even as this city witnesses some of the worst fighting in its 11,000 year old history! While intense combat between the Free Syria Army and those forces still under the control of Bashar al-Assad, elected president with over 97% of the vote last time, goes on in some sections of the city, and while other parts are being bombarded by his artillery and war planes, much of the so far peaceful sections of Damascus have taken up the call to hold a general strike in support of those under siege by the government.

And I don't know whether the people of Damascus know this or not, but this is also the 78th anniversary of the great San Francisco General Strike of 16 July 1934.

#BeitSahem #Damascus #Syria - 16th July 2012general strike in the Beit Sahem suburb of Damascus in solidarity... fb.me/1MdKRcb1N
— Free Damascenes(@CFDPC) July 16, 2012

#BabSrejah #Damascus #Syria - 16th July 2012general strike in the Bab Srejah area of central Damascus in... fb.me/198qjoUts
— Free Damascenes(@CFDPC) July 16, 2012

#Syria Ugarit News || #Hama: A general strike on Ibn Al Rushd street to mourn the lives lost in Traimseh. [15 Ju... on.fb.me/NHxVHN
— Ugarit News.English (@UgaritEnglish) July 15, 2012

#Midan #Damascus #Syria - 15th July 2012general strike in the Midan area of central Damascus to protest against... fb.me/16YcYyPoo
— Free Damascenes(@CFDPC) July 15, 2012

#SyriaRevo #Syria #سوريا الحسكة: اضراب عام في حي غويران Hassakah: A General Strike In Ghoueran Neighborhood... fb.me/1tEcSwmz6
— Syria.Revo (@Syria_Revo) July 15, 2012

Meanwhile, in other sections of Damacus, Assad's armored vehicles rule the streets, as this video from the city this morning shows:

Be sure to read my most important diary yet:
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12:54 PM PT:

few hundred meters fromm #BasharAssad home #Mohajreen #Damascus #Syria