{"id":6401,"date":"2012-02-26T19:47:08","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T02:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=6401"},"modified":"2012-02-26T19:47:08","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T02:47:08","slug":"syrian-referendum-to-little-too-later-point-of-no-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=6401","title":{"rendered":"Syrian referendum to little too later, point of no return?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syrian referendum called a \u2018sham,\u2019 activists say 29 more killed in crackdown<\/strong>
\n26 February, 2012 – Zeina Karam – Associated Press<\/p>\n

DAMASCUS, SYRIA\u2014Syria\u2019s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a \u201csham.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as some cast ballots for what the government has tried to portray as reform, the military kept up shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs, which has been under attack for more than three weeks after rebels took control of some neighbourhoods there. Activists and residents report that hundreds have been killed in Homs in the past few weeks, including two Western journalists.<\/p>\n

The Red Cross spokesman said the humanitarian group had been unable to enter the besieged Homs neighbourhood of Baba Amr since Friday, describing the humanitarian needs there as \u201cvery urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activist groups said at least 29 people were killed on Sunday, mostly in Homs. At least 89 were reported killed on Saturday alone, one day before the referendum. Activists estimate close to 7,500 people have been killed in the 11 months since the Assad regime\u2019s brutal crackdown on dissent began.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday\u2019s vote \u201ca cynical ploy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a phoney referendum, and it is going to be used by Assad to justify what he\u2019s doing to other Syrian citizens,\u201d she said in an interview with CBS News in Rabat, Morocco.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Rabat, Clinton called on Syrians in business and the military who still support Assad to turn against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer you support the regime\u2019s campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honour,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you refuse, however, to prop up the regime or take part in attacks … your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other countries also lambasted the vote. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Syrian referendum called a \u2018sham,\u2019 activists say 29 more killed in crackdown 26 February, 2012 – Zeina Karam – Associated Press DAMASCUS, SYRIA\u2014Syria\u2019s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2567],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6402,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6401\/revisions\/6402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}