A day after the security forces of President Bashar Assad raided the campus of Aleppo University, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Syria's second city and its economic powerhouse.
The AP talked to Mohammed Saeed, an activist, who said protesters were "incensed" by the raid at the university, which killed four.
"Everyone wants to express solidarity with those students," the activist told the AP, adding that the forces fired live ammunition into the crowd.
The AP adds:
"The raid at Aleppo University was an unusually violent incident for the city, a major economic hub that has remained largely loyal to Assad over the course of the 14-month uprising.
"Anti-government protests there have been on the rise, and university students — many from rebellious areas such as the northern Idlib province — have been staging almost daily demonstrations.
"'This is what prompted this extremely brutal attack by the government ... this is proof that the regime has started to worry about Aleppo rising up,' said Omar Idilbi, a member of the Syrian National Council opposition group."
CNN has a wider look at the violence across the country, saying 33 people were killed today in different government offensives, including the shelling of Sharaei.
Yesterday, the White House accused to the Syrian regime of making "no effort" toward implementing a U.N.-backed peace plan.
"If the regime's intransigence continues, the international community is going to have to admit defeat and work to address the serious threat to peace and stability being perpetrated by the Assad regime," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
