Rallying for Syria!

Last Friday we were back in Klang to check on the old house; the hubby had to attend a meeting on Saturday and a lot of other things to attend to on the Friday. Got news on Facebook that 20 or so NGOs were going to hold a peaceful rally for Syria after Friday prayers on the 16th.. so, (yey!) I had to join them - some friends were planning to travel together from Meru to the Tabung Haji in KL where they were going to start the walk to the Syrian Embassy. We got on three cars and drove to Kelana Jaya LRT station.We took the LRT to Ampang Park which is just a few metres away from the Tabung Haji building. The last time I did this was for Palestine (2010 blog entry: What I did Last Friday) - when I was a little bit younger? Anyway, this time the walk to the Syrian Embassy was much longer (it seemed like forever to reach our destination...) and the sun was beating down relentlessly... But now I understand crowd psychology - having a shared objective gives the individual the strength that you thought you never have! So there I was waving a poster and chanting: "Freedom.. freedom.. Syria! Allah..! Suria..! Huria..! Wabas!" On reaching the Embassy (which of course was locked with no one about) I was quite relieved to be able to sit down on the kerb while listening to the speeches (and catching up with old friends who came as well!). It was on the return journey that my legs appeared to be heavier and my tiny little handbag seemed to weigh down on my shoulder like lead...We made a number of stops along the way to rest (and eat ice-cream! The ice-cream man seemed to know just where to lurk...) and reaching Ampang Park LRT station was just heavenly; a cool welcoming place! Some of the pictures below I got from FB; you can tell by the quality (sharper and clearer - expensive camera..*sigh*)

Here we are at the station...: 

In front of the Tabung Haji building: waiting for Friday prayers to start..

Friday prayers

Start of rally

The front lines - obviously I didn't shoot this..

Didn't realise this many people attended when you were part of the crowd..!

I caught this one

Save Syria!

Way to go sistaahz!

Nearly reaching the embassy

You can see from the perspective that I took this sitting down..so tired..

Despite the tired feet and sun-burnt skin, I am very glad to be able to show support for my brothers and sisters in Syria. What they are going through are much more horrible... 

I did mention in another entry (The Spring in Syria) that it reminds me of another rally that I attended in the 80s in London. Hubby said I got the information wrong; it wasn't about Sabra and Shatilla (it was like ages ago and my memory got fuzzy..) Sabra and Shatilla was about the Israeli army that massacred the Palestinians in a Lebanese refugee camp (we must have had rallied for that as well, I think..). Anyway, I Googled and the one that I attended was actually about the massacre in Hama which: "occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian army under the orders of the country's president, Hafez al-Assad, conducted a scorched earth operation against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime of al-Assad." God, these leaders must have thought they'd live for ever! Like father, like son... Basyar al-Assad..your days are numbered..!