Asserting their rightful demands | Residents from Idlib and Aleppo stage anti-HTS protests on 29 days in two months
Demonstrations against Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and its leader, Abu Mohammad Al-Julani, have escalated in cities, towns and villages in north-west Syria, where protestors express their rejection of the formation’s predominance, high taxes and violations practiced by the General Security Service.
Since the beginning of the latest wave of anti-HTS demonstrations on February 25 in Sarmada city in north Idlib countryside, residents staged demonstrations in different areas in north-west Syria on 29 days, according to SOHR statistics.
During those demonstrations, the protestors lifted placards with slogans written on them, some of which read “we want independent and effective judiciary.”
-February
Civilians and activists staged anti-HTS demonstrations on the 25th and 27th of February, calling for the release of innocent detainees and prisoners of opinion, starting urgent and fair trials for all prisoners and stopping torture.
-March
Residents staged demonstrations and protests against HTS and Al-Julani on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 21st, 22nd, 24th, 25th and 31st of March in the cities of Idlib, Jisr Al-Shughour, Ariha, Salqin, Harem, Darkoush, Armanaz and Kafr Takhareem, the towns of Binnish, Ta’oum, Taftnaz, the camps of Al-Karamah, Fu’ah, Atmah, Harbanoush, Deir Hassan and Kherbet Al-Jouz in Idlib countryside and the cities of Atarib and Darat Izza in the western countryside of Aleppo.
Some demonstrations experienced exchange of offensives between the demonstrators and HTS members in Salqin, Kherbet Al-Jouz and other areas.
-April
Different demonstrations were staged on 11 days since early April, as the demonstrators have expressed their adherence to their demands to overthrow Al-Julani and release detainees.
It is worth noting that public anger is growing in areas controlled by Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and north Syria region, after HTS had confessed to killing a detainee, who was a member of “Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement,” after having been disappeared.
HTS announced that the man was accused of “spying for enemies and receiving remittances from foreign bodies.” Later, it was found out that the man was acquitted of all those charges and that he died under torture five months earlier. HTS later informed the man’s family of the place where he was buried, before his family retrieved his body and reburied him in the family’s graveyard.
The demonstrators call for toppling Al-Julani, stopping injustice, putting an end of the violations committed by security forces, releasing innocent prisoners, opening frontlines, releasing all detainees of opinion, applying fair and urgent trials for prisoners, stopping of torture and reducing fees and taxes.