Amman — Syrian authorities are carrying out a wave of arrests in the city of Deraa in their latest move to crush protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, residents said on Sunday.
The residents said they had seen packed busloads of handcuffed and hooded young men being taken in the direction of a large detention center in the city run by the security services.
"They are arresting all males above 15 years. They only have old security tactics and they are acting on revenge," said a prominent lawyer in Deraa who did not want to be further identified.
"Bullets are their response to the people's revolt. The security forces who came to Deraa told us 'Go buy bread from a bakery called Freedom. Let's see if it feeds you,'" he added.
A Deraa witness who identified himself as Adnan al-Hourani told Al-Jazeera television that security forces had divided the southern Syrian city into four sections, each cut off from the others, and had gathered all the detainees in schools and were preparing to transfer them.
Assad sent troops backed by dozens of tanks into Deraa on 25 April to silence revolt against his 11-year rule. Protests began there in March and have escalated into an uprising in the country of 20 million people which is now into its seventh week.
Power and communications in Deraa have been disrupted. On Saturday, tanks shelled the old quarter and security forces stormed the Omari mosque, a focal point for protests.
"GHOST CITY"
"It is a ghost city this morning. At dawn we heard machinegun bursts that scared birds. But it's mostly quiet now," said Abu Haytham, a government employee, on Sunday.
Residents said dozens of corpses stored in two refrigerator trucks parked near the mosque, where snipers were seen standing near the minaret, had started to decompose after the trucks ran out of diesel.
Overnight rain diluted the pools of spattered blood on the streets, spreading it into wider patches, residents said. Women and children had chanted from rooftops until the early hours, shouting "God is greatest against the tyrant."
The uprising, unthinkable only months ago, flared after mass protests swept across the Arab World, toppling authoritarian leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
A Syrian rights group said at least 560 civilians have been killed.
Foreign correspondents have largely been excluded from Syria since the protests escalated and the crackdown began.
Newly appointed Prime Minister Adel Safar was quoted on Saturday by state news agency SANA as saying his government would in the coming weeks draw up a "complete plan" of political, judicial and economic reforms.
The pledge was unlikely to dampen the intensity of protests. A severe crackdown followed the once-unthinkable gesture of lifting a decades-old emergency law last month.
The government also has little influence as Assad, his family and the security apparatus have a stranglehold on power.
Syria blames armed groups for the violence. SANA quoted an official military source as saying on Saturday that army and security forces units had been chasing "armed terrorist groups" who had attacked properties in Deraa.
