‘Lead transition or go,’ Sarkozy tells Assad as eight people killed in Syria demos

AL ARABIYA, 27 May 2011
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Friday joined US President Barack Obama’s call for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to lead the protest-hit nation’s transition to democracy or step down as at least eight people were killed during anti-regime demonstrations on Friday across Syria.

“Could I have said that? Yes,” Mr. Sarkozy said in an answer to a journalist’s question at the end of the G8 summit in the French resort of Deauville, according to Agence-France Presse.

Mr. Sarkozy said that Mr. Obama “was right” when he said on May 19: “President Assad now has a choice. He can lead that transition or get out of the way. The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests.”
Sarkozy’s declaration is the first time that France has spoken so explicitly about Assad leaving power. Until now France has simply called for an end to the repression in Syria and for reforms to be implemented.

“We’ve done everything to bring Syria into the internationalcommunity. Everything. We talked (to the Syrians), tried to help them, to understand them,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say that Syria’s leaders are moving quickly in reverse. Under these conditions, France withdraws its trust and denounces what must be denounced,” President Sarkozy said.

“President Bashar al-Assad knew perfectly that France would do this once there was this unacceptable democratic regression.”

Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed during anti-regime demonstrations on Friday across Syria, including four in two different suburbs of the capital Damascus, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.

The killings took place as pro-democracy protesters again took to the streets in several citiesand towns across the country after Muslim Friday prayers, in what has become a weekly ritual.

Human rights activists told Reuters that protests flared in the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Albu Kamal, where people burned pictures of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who this week threw his weight behind the authoritarian 46-yearold Assad.

Residents said security forces fired shots at protesters in Deir al-Zor. State television said “armed elements” opened fire on security troops in Deir al-Zor and five of them were wounded.

Residents said gunfire was also heard in the centralcity of Homs as thousands gathered despite a heavy security presence, while five protesters were wounded by security forces’ shooting in Zabadani, a western town near the Lebanese border.

The biggest demonstrations typically occur on Fridays after Muslimprayers, and they have also generally been the deadliest. Lately, protesters have taken to holding nightly demonstrations in an attempt to circumvent a heavy security presence.

At least 1,000 people have been killed and 10,000 others arrested since the revolt began mid-March, rights groups say.

Foreign journalists have been barred from travel inside the country of 23 million people to report on the unrest.