Homs protestors refuse to back down

Tens of thousands of defiant Syrian protesters have thronged the streets of Homs calling for the execution of president Bashar Assad after his Arab League monitors were allowed in the city for the first time.

Government troops were ordered to pull back from the rebel stronghold in the first sign the regime was complying with the League’s plan to end the nine-month-old crackdown on mostly unarmed and peaceful protesters.

Yet amateur video released by activists showed forces firing on protesters even while the monitors were inside the city.

Syrian tanks had been heavily shelling Homs for days, residents and activists said, killing dozens even after Assad signed early last week to the Arab League plan, which demands the government remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country.

But a few hours before the arrival of the monitors, who began work on Tuesday to ensure Syria complies with the League’s plan, the army stopped the bombardment and pulled some of its tanks back.

The activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that government forces fired on protesters while the monitors were inside Homs and said two people were killed from the fire.

Amateur videos show residents of Homs pleading with the visiting monitors for protection.

“We are unarmed people who are dying,” one resident shouts to one observer. Seconds later, shooting is heard from a distance as someone else screams: “We are being slaughtered here.”

Given the intensified crackdown over the past week, the opposition has viewed Syria’s agreement to the Arab League plan as a farce. Some even accuse the organisation of 22 states of complicity in the killings. Activists say the regime is trying to buy time and forestall more international condemnation and sanctions.

The Observatory for Human Rights said as the monitors visited Homs, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in some districts to “reveal the crimes committed by the regime.”

Later, the Observatory said 70,000 protesters tried to enter the tightly secured Clock Square but were pushed back by security forces who fired tear gas and later live bullets, killing at least two.