Protests erupt in Syria over Christmas tree burning

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree near the city of Hama, the BBC reported.

A video posted on social media showed masked gunmen setting fire to the tree on display in the main square of the Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria.

The main Islamist faction which led the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad said the men responsible for the arson were foreign fighters and had been detained.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country, demanding the new Islamist rulers protect religious minorities.

Footage of the aftermath showed a religious figure from the governing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group assuring crowds who had gathered in Suqaylabiyah that the tree would be repaired before the morning.

The man then held up a cross in a show of solidarity, something Islamist conservatives would not do.

On Tuesday more protesters took to the streets over the arson attack.

Some in the Kassa neighbourhood of Damascus chanted against foreign fighters in Syria.

"Syria is free, non Syrians should leave," they said, in reference to the foreign fighters HTS said were behind the attack.

Just over two weeks ago, Bashar al-Assad's presidency fell to rebel forces, ending the Assad family's more than 50-year-rule.

How the HTS group will govern Syria remains to be seen.