‘Nothing for the poor’
Hundreds of people in Sweida, a Druze-majority city in southwestern Syria, have taken to the streets for a fifth day to decry corruption and worsening living standards, according to activists.
Protesters yesterday gathered in the government-held city's main square, waving the multicoloured Druze community flag.
"We cannot live," a religious elder at the protest told the crowd. "We want to live in our nation with our dignity and rights for everyone."
The demonstrators accuse President Bashar al-Assad's government of failing to address a spiralling economic crisis.
"The regime has made so many flawed decisions that has led to this economic deterioration," Rayyan Maarouf, of media activist group Sweida 24, told Al Jazeera. "They have not tried to present a solution to all of this."
Over the past week, protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and gathered in the city square, according to social media posts. One of them, a woman attending with her young child, held a loaf of bread on which she had etched the phrase, "There is nothing left for the poor."
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