Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Syria after foreign fighters burned down a Christmas tree in the centre of the country, sparking concerns about sectarian violence.
Demonstrators resumed marches on Tuesday morning in the Christian areas of Damascus in response to a video on social media showing the burning of the tree near Hama in central Syria. There were also protests in Hama, as well as other Christian areas in the country.
“We demand the rights of Christians,” protesters chanted as they marched through the Syrian capital towards the headquarters of the Orthodox patriarchate in the Bab Sharqi neighbourhood.
One demonstrator, who identified himself as Georges, told AFP that they were protesting over “injustice to Christians”.
“If we’re not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don’t belong here any more,” he said.
The video that spread on social media showed two hooded fighters setting fire to a Christmas tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fighters were foreigners from the Islamist group Ansar al-Tawhid.
While the toppling of the Bashar al-Assad government a little over two weeks ago has been welcomed by Western nations as an end to years of repression, concerns remain that sectarian violence could yet again become an issue in the country.
Syria’s victorious Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, has vowed that the country will be for all people, not just Sunni Muslims, and that it will protect minorities, including the Christian community.
Subsequent footage from Suqaylabiyah did show a religious leader from HTS claiming those responsible for the fire were “not Syrian” and would be punished. “The tree will be restored and lit up by tomorrow morning,” he added, before holding up a cross in a show of solidarity. This is not something Islamist conservatives would typically do.
HTS later added that foreign fighters had been detained in the incident.
Syria is home to an array of ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis.
