DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian police have imposed an overnight curfew in the city of Homs, state media reported, after unrest there linked to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the minority Alawite and Shi’ite Muslim religious communities.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the demands of the demonstrators nor the degree of disturbance that took place.
Some residents said the demonstrations were linked to pressure and violence in recent days aimed at members of the Alawite minority, a sect long seen as loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by Sunni Islamist rebels on Dec. 8.
Spokespeople for Syria’s new ruling administration led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the curfew.
State media said the curfew was being imposed for one night, from 6pm (1500 GMT) local time until 8am on Thursday morning.
The country’s new leaders have repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups, who fear that the former rebels now in control could seek to impose a conservative form of Islamist government.
Small demonstrations also took place in other areas on or near Syria’s coast, where most of the country’s Alawite minority live, including in the city of Tartous.
The demonstrations took place around the time an undated video was circulated on social networks showing a fire inside an Alawite shrine in the city of Aleppo, with armed men walking around inside and posing near human bodies.
The interior ministry said on its official Telegram account that the video dated back to the rebel offensive on Aleppo in late November and the violence was carried out by unknown groups, adding that whoever was circulating the video now appeared to be seeking to incite sectarian strife.
The ministry also said that some members of the former regime had attacked interior ministry forces in Syria’s coastal area on Wednesday, leaving a number of dead and wounded.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Damascus; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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