Syria 1st-Hand: "Daraa Changed Everything" (Streets, Inc.)

Protest in Daraa, SyriaFadi went to visit his family over the weekend but did not show up to work on Monday as he typically does. He did not come back until Friday. He was stuck in Daraa as the army laid siege to it and had to sneak his way back via Damascus. Fadi was suddenly talking about toppling the regime. This simple man who had never bothered with politics before started talking about regime change.

Fadi returned to Daraa just in time for the burial of a relative of his. It was a mass burial of fifteen people who were gunned down the previous night by security forces and the army. The funeral quickly turned into a protest against the regime, the first protest Fadi had ever participated in. As the march proceeded over a narrow bridge, the security forces opened fire again, killing a further four. He escaped unscathed, but the event changed him. Later that day he joined a group that marched on a police barracks and torched it.

Click to read more ...