Syria Opposition Commemorates Hama Massacre

Syria's opposition called protests Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre, as the United Nations moved closer to agreement on action to halt a deadly regime crackdown on dissent.

Demonstrations were planned in various cities in memory of the estimated 10,000 to 40,000 people who perished in February 1982 when then president Hafez Assad, father of the current president Bashar, launched a fierce assault on the central town to crush an Islamist revolt.

The anniversary was taking place as the regime in Damascus battles to crush an unprecedented revolt that has left more than 6,000 people dead since mid-March, according to estimates of human rights groups.

The city of Hama defiantly painted roads in red and staged a general strike on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Several roads have been painted red and the waterwheels marked 'Hafez is dead while Hama has not disappeared''," it said, in reference to the famous landmark of the city on the Orontes river.

The number of dead has mounted in recent weeks with the central cities of Homs and Hama suffering heavy losses.

Activists said the 1982 massacre of Hama, which went largely unnoticed by the international community when it took place, had now come back to haunt the Assad clan.

"On this 30th anniversary, another massacre is taking place today but on a larger scale and led by the son of Hafez Assad," the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella opposition group said.

The group called for activists to release red balloons in memory of those who died in what many describe as the worst atrocity in Syria's modern history.

It urged demonstrators to burn portraits of Hafez Assad and his younger brother Rifaat, who supervised the assault and aerial bombing on Hama. Rifaat Assad now lives in exile in London.

The opposition also called for "the trial of the regimes of Hafez and Bashar Assad for massacres against humanity committed against the Syrian people."

"The silence of the Arab and international community in the face of the crimes committed by Hafez Assad and his cronies 30 years ago is largely responsible for the continuation of daily crimes and atrocities committed by Bashar," it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a Syrian dissident was killed by security forces before his body was thrown off the rooftop of his home in front of his wife and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday.

The Britain-based monitoring group said the incident took place on Wednesday in the town of al-Maadamiyeh, located on the outskirts of Damascus.

"Security forces launched a raid on the home of militant Nasser Mohammed Said Sghayer, 30," it said in a statement. "Fearing arrest, he sought refuge on the roof of his house and security forces threatened to arrest his two children if he did not surrender."

It added that when he failed to heed their call, troops rushed to the roof and opened fire, killing him on the spot.

"They then threw his body from the roof in front of his wife and children," the Observatory said.

It said Sghayer had served four months in prison and had been released last week. His father has been behind bars for seven months.

The Observatory called for an independent inquiry into his death.