A WOMAN was shot dead and five people wounded yesterday when Syrian troops fired on Syrians fleeing on foot across the border into Lebanon to escape a military crackdown in the protest hub of Tal Kalakh.
According to witnesses, at least four residents of Tal Khalakh were killed on Saturday when snipers fired on a funeral procession, prompting hundreds to flee.
The pro-government al-Watandaily reported that fighting had taken place in the town between troops and armed elements from the restive cities of Homs and Baniyas. The paper also said anti-regime "fighters" had crossed into Syria from Lebanon.
While stepping up the effort to end unrest in Tal Kalakh, the army pulled troops and tanks out of the southern town of Deraa, where protests began in mid-March, and Baniyas on the coast. An editorial in the government newspaper Tishrin proclaimed, “The game is over and those betting on destroying Syria from within have failed” as information minister Adnan Mahmud said “national dialogue” would begin soon.
In Cairo, 78 people were injured and 50 arrested when clashes erupted between Coptic Christians and residents of a nearby poor neighbourhood. Over the past week hundreds of Copts have been staging a sit-in in front of the state television building to protest rioting on May 7th between Copts and ultra-orthodox Muslims in the working class district of Imbaba. The violence began when a motorist fired birdshot at Copts who had prevented him from driving through the sit-in on a Nile-side road. The Copts chased him down and beat him. Ten cars were torched before the army moved in to restore order and block off the road to prevent further rioting.
Protesters castigated the army for its slow response but Coptic Pope Shenouda called for the Copts to end their vigil, warning the country’s military, exercising presidential powers, and interim government were losing patience with Coptic activism.
This was the third major clash between Copts and Muslims since Egypt’s uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February. More than two dozen people have been killed, two churches burnt and hundreds injured in these incidents.
