يضحكون عندما يضحك
Their hearts raced in anticipation, not over those much heralded reforms which failed to materialise - "Weren't emergency laws abolished last week anyway?' asked one - but over the excitement and grandeur of the occasion: the packed parliament, the crowds of cheering supporters and, of course, President Bashar al-Assad himself.
"He is a very good man, he is very strong," said one of the young women, watching on the TV of a café in the wealthy Shaalan area of Damascus as Syria's president prepared to make his first speech to the nation in the wake of unprecedented protests against the 40-year rule of his family.
It had been a fortnight that had witnessed the previously unthinkable: Images of protestors in the southern city of Daraa hauling down the statue of President Assad's father Hafez, the 'eternal leader' whose 30-year rule over Syria instilled such fear that, even today, Syrians dare not speak his name.
Images, too, of Bashar's smiling portrait being torn and kicked. Blood of citizens staining the streets of a country whose rulers promise stability, above all else, but whose security forces had killed more than 60 protestors in a week.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/2011331134947323374.html
