Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Syria on Tuesday after attacks on the Alawite minority raised new fears over sectarian violence.
The protests in the coastal Alawite heartland were some of the biggest since Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara came to power a year ago. The rebel offensive he led toppled the government of Bashar Al Assad, an Alawite who had his power base in the sect.
A group of leaders, the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, had called for protests after an outbreak of violence against the community in Homs. The weekend violence erupted after a Sunni Bedouin couple were killed on Sunday, with sectarian graffiti found at the site.
A curfew was lifted on Monday but the unrest was the latest to spark fears over Mr Al Shara's ability to unite the country. Many Alawites were killed in a bout of coastal violence in March, and similar tension has arisen over bringing the Kurdish and Druze minorities into the new state.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 protests took place on Tuesday as the government sent security personnel to keep order. There were reports of of gunfire to break up rival demonstrations, but not of major violence or casualties.
Witnesses said protesters had gathered to demand a decentralised political system in Syria, which Mr Al Shara has opposed. Demonstrators in the port city of Latakia shouted slogans such as: "To the whole world, listen to us, the Alawites will not bend".
A n Interior Ministry spokesman, Noureddine Al Baba, said Syrians had the right to protest but urged them to "resist external calls aimed at promoting unrest and chaos". He pledged the government would show "neutrality towards all Syrian communities".
Mr Al Baba told Syrian television that those behind the calls to protest were "based outside Syria and are disconnected from the realities of life in the coastal region".
State media reported that during the weekend unrest, “random gunfire” wounded 18 people, and 40 homes and businesses were affected by “riots and sabotage”. Cars and buildings were set on fire.
