02/02/2012 / SYRIA
Hama residents mark 30-year anniversary of massacre by painting streets blood red
To mark the anniversary of the massacre carried out by president Bashar Al-Assad’s father and predecessor three decades ago in Hama, residents poured red paint all over the city’s streets and walls to symbolise spilled blood.
The “blood” was poured on the streets overnight. Activists say that by morning, authorities had washed most of it away. But that action caused pools of reddish water to form in the streets, and the result looks even more like real blood.
The cleanup crew missed some spots – videos show one of Hama’s famed water wheels covered in red paint and revolutionary slogans. One such slogan reads: “Hafez [the elder Al-Assad] died, but Hama did not.”
Security forces closed all public squares in Hama to prevent groups forming to commemorate the anniversary.
In 1982, residents of Hama rebelled against the government, then headed by Hafez Al-Assad. Thousands were killed by security forces. Today, Hama is once again at the centre of an uprising.
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