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Children on their way home from their school in central Damascus on Thursday.
1 / 3 Photo: Leo Correa/AP/TT
Demonstrators in Damascus demand that Syria’s interim government uphold the rights of the female population.
The new leaders promise that girls will be allowed to continue going to school.
On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered in Umayyad Square in the Syrian capital Damascus to take a stand for democratic development that includes women.
The demonstration is the first major one to be held in the country since dictator Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led rebel forces who installed a new transitional government.
In the square, the crowd chanted messages against a religious rule and for democracy.
– We stand here today to peacefully guard the progress of the revolution that allows us to stand here in complete freedom, said the 48-year-old protester Ayham Hamsho, a prosthetics maker by day, to AFP.
Balanced statements
The news agency’s seconded reporter notes that several armed rebel soldiers were walking around nearby. One of them spoke into a microphone at one point and proclaimed that the revolution had been achieved by force of arms, whereupon many interrupted him with slogans against military rule.
The interim government is led by at least the former extreme Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It has sought to distance itself from its origins in the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and has led a conservative government in rebel-held territory in northwestern Syria.
The HTS leadership has assured in interviews with Western media that the war-torn country must be governed in an inclusive and tolerant manner, with all its ethnic groups and religions.
Talked about biology
Girls will continue to be allowed to go to school, says the newly appointed Minister of Education Nazir Mohammed al-Qadri in an interview with Reuters.
– The right to education is not reserved for a certain gender, says the minister, who claims that there will not be major changes in the school system.
A few days ago, however, interim government spokesman Obaida Arnaout reinforced the fears of many when he said that it is too early to talk about whether women should hold positions of power in the new Syria. He said that in that case you need to take women’s “biological composition” into account – and questioned whether it is appropriate if they are to have influence in, for example, military matters.