Thousands of demonstrators have protested near and around Hama, Syria, against the burning of a Christmas tree.
The public tree was in a Christianity majority town. A video posted on social media showed masked gunmen setting fire to the tree on display in the main square.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, victorious against Bashar al-Assad, said the tree was burned by foreign fighters from another group. Local channels say they were Uzbek militants, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fighters were foreigners from the Islamist group Ansar al-Tawhid. In any case, the media was adamant that it wasn’t Syrians who were responsible for the act.
HTS apologized and has promised to restore the tree, as well as to extinguish future threats. But Christians say they’re curious to see if this will actually happen.
“We demand the rights of Christians,” protesters chanted, marching Syrian capital towards the Orthodox Patriarchate in the Bab Sharqi neighborhood. These protestors carried a cross and Syrian flags, gravely singing: “we will sacrifice our souls for our cross”.
Bashar al-Assad, whose half-century-old government was overthrown two weeks ago by an armed Islamist coalition, considered himself a protector-figure of minorities — and many Christians are already missing him.
“If we’re not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don’t belong here anymore”, mused one interviewed witness.
Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia. But the majority is made up of Arab Sunnis.
HTS is aware of the delicacy of this situation and has publicly promised to protect minorities since its lightning offensive toppled Assad this month following years of stalemate. Despite its Jihadist past and its international status as a terrorist organization, it swears minorities rights will be protected.
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