Syrian Violence Doesn’t End After Al-Assad’s Referendum Passes
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KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — A day after voters in Syria reportedly approved a referendum by an overwhelming margin, a human rights group claimed that at least 138 people had been killed in the continued crackdown on pro-reform dissidents.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 98 people died in the city of Homs alone on Monday, including 64 allegedly massacred at a checkpoint in the city.
At least 7,000 people have been killed in the year-long offensive by the Syrian government, which claims that terrorists outside the country are fomenting anger against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Meanwhile, the government says that the referendum intended to bring about constitutional reforms received nearly 90 percent approval, with just over 57 percent of eligible voters going to the polls. However, most observers regarded the vote as a farce that allows al-Assad to remain in power for the next 16 years.
The international community has condemned the violence in Syria, but little has been done to stop it. On Monday, the European Union did impose sanctions on Damascus that freezes assets of its central bank and restricts trade of gold and other precious metals among other penalties.
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