DAMASCUS, May 18 (RIA Novosti)
The Syrian opposition’s calls to hold a general day-long strike on Wednesday have been largely ignored, Aljazeera reported.
The Syrian opposition called for a general strike as the government denied reports that it has been burying anti-government protesters in mass graves.
“Wednesday will be a day of punishment for the regime by the revolutionaries and the people of a free will,” the Syrian Revolution 2011 opposition group said on its website.
“Let’s transform this Wednesday into a Friday (the regular day for protests), with mass protests, no schools, no universities, no stores or restaurants open and even no taxis.”
But these calls have gone unheeded. The city streets and markets in Damascus and other large Syrian cities are busy as usual.
“You see, the market is working as usual, with all the shops open, no one is going to support any such calls,” an owner of a clothing shop in Damascus’s central Hamidia market told a RIA Novosti correspondent.
This article was first published by RIA Novosti on 18 May 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. Cf. “Medvedev Says Russia ‘Won’t Back’ UN Syria Resolution” (RIA Novosti, 18 May 2011); Steven Lee Myers and Anthony Shadid, “U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Syrian Leader and 6 Aides” (New York Times, 18 May 2011).
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