500,000 Marched in Damascus Last Wednesday

"400,000 at least, and probably 500,000" attended last Wednesday’s demonstration in Damascus said the DCM of the Indian Embassy in Damascus, D.M. Mulay and his wife Sadhna Shanker. They stood at Malki Square for two and a half hours as a steady stream of participants came up the hill from Umayyad circle and proceeded down past the President's office, where Bashar al-Asad stood on the second floor balcony and waved at the passing crowd. There can be little doubt that many, if not most, of the participants chose to join the pro-Syria rally in support of the president's decision to withdraw from Lebanon. Some may have been coerced into going, but most joined voluntarily. Many from my neighborhood went off happily with no urging from officials. They were angry at the bad press Syria is getting and inspired by the rally in Lebanon the day before.