Hundreds Quit Syria's Government

Even as UN fails to condemn the violence
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2011 7:51 AM CDT
Hundreds Quit Syria's Government
Syrian protestor burn a poster of Syrian president Bashar Assad during a demonstration in front of the Syrian embassy in Nicosia, Friday, April 22, 2011.   (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

More than 230 members of Syria’s ruling Ba’ath party resigned in protest today over the government’s violent crackdown on protests, even as the UN failed to condemn the massacre, the Guardian reports. The death toll from the crackdown has now reportedly climbed to at least 500. But Russia, Lebanon, and India blocked a US and European-backed Security Council statement, with Russia warning that “a real threat to regional security could arise from outside interference in Syria’s domestic situation.”

But around 200 members of the Ba’ath party from Syria's southern Hauran region, which includes Daraa, resigned, as did 30 from the coastal city of Banias, saying that the party’s values “were destroyed at the hands of security forces.” Things are dire in Daraa; gunfire and explosions were heard yesterday, and residents report that snipers are picking off people in the streets. “We have no electricity, no water, no telephones, and no bread,” said one resident. “The situation is terrible.” (More Daraa province stories.)

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