SHEHBA – On the road between Shehba Canton and Aleppo, a demonstration was staged on Friday. A big banner was raised during the protest, which was attended by thousands of people, with the words “We call for the abolition of the 4th Brigade checkpoints and the termination of the embargo.”
Protesters walking in front of Damascus-held checkpoints made a statement in Kurdish and Arabic. Shehba Canton Council Co-chair Îsmaîl Musa and Afrin Canton Council member Leyla Heftaro read the statement on behalf of Shehba and Afrin Canton.
The statement said the following:
“The Syrian crisis has been going on for 11 years. The Syrian regime still insists on a military solution and continues its policy of embargo. In this way, it aims to starve civilians.
The Damascus administration continues to pursue this approach against the Şêxmeqsûd (Sheikh Mawsoud) and Eşrefiye (Ashrafiyah) neighborhoods, where 200,000 people have lived for four years. It maintains the same policy in the Shehba Canton, where hundreds of thousands of Afrin immigrants live.
As the Canton Councils of Shehba and Afrin, we strongly condemn the embargo imposed on the Shehba region, Şêxmeqsûd, and Eşrefiye neighborhoods. We urge human rights organizations and groups dealing with refugee problems to exert pressure on Damascus’ government to abolish the embargo. We urge them to come to Shehba and document the horrors done by the occupying Turkish state.”
The activists urged the Damascus government to end the embargo against Shexmeqsûd, Eşrefiye, and Shehba Region, emphasizing that the people of Shehba Canton will continue their fight until they liberate the occupied regions of Afrin and Shehba.
The statement called for all the 4th Brigade checkpoints in the neighborhoods to be removed in order to ease commuting, essential commodities, medicine, and fuel to the neighborhoods.
