A PROTEST was held yesterday evening at Manchester Piccadilly Gardens to raise awareness for people suffering in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The demonstration, that involved participants standing in the rain, began at 5pm and lasted approximately one hour and a half.
Activists arranged the emergency protest only hours before, in response to the fact that residents of Aleppo had taken to Twitter to share their heartfelt goodbyes; as they feared for their lives after the area was bombed.
Women in #Aleppo are committing suicide because they would rather die than be raped. Children are being burned alive and executed.
— Noor Tagouri (@NTagouri) December 13, 2016
Final message – people are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now & still alive. – Fatemah #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 12, 2016
A crowd of over 150 people gathered at the gardens to chant “Free free Syria,” and “Our Syria will be free,” along with “No more killing in Aleppo.”
Banners were held up by the crowd, in an attempt to spread awareness for the cause.
An organiser of the event, Majd Altujjar, 28, said: “We are asking to break the siege of Eastern Syrians, where many massacres have taken place.
“The emergency protest was organised last minute and I was surprised by the response. A lot of people took it on their shoulders to spread awareness of the event, mainly via Facebook.
“We were very lucky because a lot of passers-by took interest in the event, which is what we wanted.”
One participant, who travelled from Huddersfield to take part, said: “I was really moved to come over to Manchester and having read the news last night, it took me to a place that I felt I had to act. I had to do something.
“I wanted to be around people who felt as strongly about the situation as I did.”
Aleppo’s circumstances have had a huge reaction from the public. More than one million people have taken to Facebook to discuss it today – causing it to trend.
Watch the protest below:
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