Nir Rosen's Latest on Syria's Alawite Activists

On December 31 a delegation of Alawite activists joined about 500 Sunni demonstrators in Barzeh. The leader of the rally announced to the crowd that they had special guests that evening. One man took the microphone and told the crowd he was an Alawite from Homs. They cheered and clapped. He told them there were other Alawites in the crowd and many Alawites "in the prisons of the dog called Bashar al-Assad". The crowds cheered and clapped again, and continued doing so after he shouted: "I am from the Alawite sect - not from the Assadi sect". He led the crowd in chanting "one, one, one, the Syrian people is one!" and "the people want the execution of Bashar!"