Request to stand a moment of silence for the souls of the martyrs of Syrian university students
Fourteen months after the spark of the Syrian revolution was lit, multiple forms of unprecedented repression not previously imposed by a regime on its people who simply demand freedom, democracy and end to decades of tyranny and corruption by peaceful means that humiliated the regime were enacted. As these requests extended to institutions and universities across all Syrian cities, the regime increased its repression and its brutality.
Despite all interjections, the regime insisted on ignoring all opinions that contradicted its security resolution, ranging from Arab to regional to international mediation. From the Arab League initiative to the initiative proposed by the United Nations, the regime expressed no interest in complying with any proposals to help stop the bloodshed or to seriously address the legitimate concerns of the Syrian people in their entirety. The regime’s brutal response has led to approximately 15,000 dead, tens of thousands injured, the same number of women and children and elderly displaced outside the Syrian borders, and an innumerable number of detainees whose numbers cannot be accounted for due to a media blackout and no official judicial statements about their detainment.
Syrian universities acted as a platform for the peaceful revolution, and fueled it as well, in all sense of the word, as was exhibited by efforts put forth by university students. Aleppo University had the good fortune of being one of these universities, and on May 3rd and 4t; crimes were committed against its students. Their peaceful protests were met with all forms of repression by regime security forces and thugs, ranging from beating students, to the usage of tear gas, to detainment, to firing at them with live gunfire, to throwing them out down multiple-story buildings. As a result, seven people were killed, tens were injured, and more than two hundred were detained. They were then forcefully evacuated from the university residence onto the streets, and the university announced an end to all teaching for an indefinite period.
We, the students of Syria, ask our counterparts in all institutes and universities across the globe to denounce these acts by standing in their university squares for a moment of silence for the souls of their colleagues at Syrian institutions and universities, and in a stance of support for their legitimate concerns, at 12 pm on Thursday, May 10th, 2012, on the one week anniversary of the incident.
Long Live the Martyrs!
Democracy for Syria and all other nations engaged in the Dignity Spring.
Towards a world free of tyranny and oppression
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