TRIPOLI,
Lebanon: Hundreds of protesters hit the streets in north Lebanon Friday to
support the Syrian revolt against Bashar al-Assad, organizing blood drives and
marching towards the volatile border.
Some
500 Lebanese and Syrians rallied near a border crossing in the Lebanese
district of Wadi Khaled, which straddles the Syrian border, amid tight security.
Around
500 others, mainly Islamists, staged a sit-in in the northern port city of
Tripoli, which has witnessed clashes between Sunnis and minority Alawite
Muslims loyal to the Assad family.
Student
activists across Tripoli also set up a handful of tents to host blood drives
and gather donations to aid injured Syrian refugees who have regularly crossed
into Lebanon in recent weeks to seek medical care.
"We
began this campaign after it became clear that the Lebanese government and the
institutions that should be concerned with this cause were not doing their
job," said Mohammed Taha, a Lebanese student who was helping set up the
makeshift donation centres.
"All
the money we gather here will be donated to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and
only to these refugees."
Ahmed
Moussa, another student activist in Tripoli, said the grassroots campaign to
aid refugees had begun weeks ago.
"We
started by setting up donation booths outside mosques after Friday prayers and
distributing discs documenting human rights violations in Syria to passers-by
for free," Moussa told AFP.
Thousands
of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon as the state cracks down on a popular
revolt against the Assad regime, now in its tenth month.
But
many say they do not feel safe in Lebanon where Shiite militant group
Hezbollah, a staunch ally of Assad, dominates the government.
The
Syrian army last month laced the Lebanese border with landmines in a bid to
curb arms smuggling and hampering army defectors and refugees from fleeing.
Syrian
troops have also staged deadly incursions into border villages in neighboring
Lebanon.
The United Nations estimate
earlier this month that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the
crackdown since protests against the Assad regime began in mid-March.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Dec-30/158404-rallies-blood-drives-in-lebanon-to-aid-syria-refugees.ashx#axzz1kkzRRrWi
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