Syria Live Blog - March 29

Syria Live Blog - March 29

As the situation in Syria escalates, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe.  

• Timestamp: 

  11:45pm

  This blog is being wrapped up for now, but full coverage of developments in Syria can be found here.
• Timestamp: 

  11:25pm

  Here is a timeline of events in Syria since the protests started earlier this month.

• Timestamp: 

  10:18pm

  President Assad is expected to outline his plans for political reform in a speech on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the government resigned en masse. 
  
  But this was unlikely to satisfy protesters since the cabinet has little authority in Syria. Power is concentrated in the hands of Assad, his family and the security apparatus. 
  
  Wissam Tarif, a human rights campaigner, from the Syrian capital Damascus, told Al Jazeera the concessions "are not enough" to placate demonstrators.

  "There are high expectations for President Assad's, hopefully he will be using the present perfect tense and not the future tense," he said.
  
  "It would be great if President Assad released all prisoners of conscience in the country before he makes his speech."

• Timestamp: 

  7:18pm

  "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must make more progress on political reforms and should meet the needs and aspirations of his citizens," Mark Toner, the US state department spokesman, said on Tuesday.

  "We believe President Assad is at a crossroads. He has claimed to be a reformer for over a decade but he has made no substantive progress on political reforms and we urge him to ... address the needs and the aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.

• Timestamp: 

  7:12pm

  Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, told the London Conference on Libya, that the United States "condemns the Syrian government's repression of protesters".

  "In a series of side meetings I also had the chance to discuss a number of issues, including Syria," Clinton said after a London meeting of international powers on Libya.

  "I expressed our strong condemnation of the Syrian government's brutal repression of demonstrators, in particular the violence and killing of civilians in the hands of security forces," she added.

   

• Timestamp: 

  6:53pm

  Facebook group The Syria Revolution 2011,  which has emerged as the motor behind demonstrations demanding "freedom" in  Syria, is calling for sit-ins across the country on Friday despite a bid by the state to reach out to protesters.

  "The Friday of Martyrs. In all governorates, in all mosques, in all  squares. An overnight sit-in until our demands are met - all our demands,"  read a banner poster as the group's profile picture.

• Timestamp: 

  6:44pm

  Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from the capital Damascus, says Assad is expected to name a new government and outline his plans for political reform in the coming days:
  
  
  
  
   

• Timestamp: 

  5:48pm

  President Assad is to address the nation on Wednesday, according to a senior official, in his first speech in two weeks of unprecedented dissent and a day after his cabinet resigned.
  
  Official says Assad's speech will include "immediate reforms on corruption within the government".

• Timestamp: 

  4:51pm

  Thousands of Syrians gathered to show their support for Assad in the capital Damascus on Tuesday.
  
  This apparent outpouring of support comes after protesters in several Syrian cities took to the streets to demand more freedom. 
  
  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry was among the crowds and sent us this report:

  
   
• Timestamp: 

  4:20pm

  Syrian authorities have arrested four lawyers who supported unprecedented protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption, rights defenders said on Tuesday.
  
  

  One of the lawyers, Hussein Issa, was arrested on Sunday outside the Palace of Justice in the Syrian capital, the activists said.

  Issa was leaving the compound after submitting papers in defence of protesters who staged a silent demonstration for the release of political prisoners and of 15 children arrested in Daraa for writing freedom slogans on school walls, they said.

  
  The silent protest in Marjeh Square in Damascus took place two days before the demonstrations erupted in Daraa on March 18.

  
  A lawyer from Deraa, Thamer al-Jahmani, was also arrested on Sunday after he made statements to the press in support of his home city. Two lawyers, Suleiman al-Nahili and Nidal al-Sheikh Hamoud were arrested as they marched on Friday in a demonstration in the city of Homs in support of Daraa.

  
  Syria's ruling hierarchy has a history of imprisoning lawyers, despite condemnation of the practice by the International Lawyers Union and international rights group.

      
  Leading lawyers Anwar al-Bunni and Mohannad al-Hussani, who have spent their life defending political prisoners, are serving five and three-year sentences respectively for "weakening national morale".

  
  The two are winners of prestigious rights awards, together with 80-year-old lawyer and former judge Haitham al-Maleh, who spent nearly a year in jail before he was released under an amnesty marking the anniversary of the coup which brought the Baath Party to power.
• Timestamp: 

  4:04pm

  Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reports from the capital Damascus, on the latest developments:
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  3:00pm

  The Syrian cabinet has resigned amid the country's worst unrest in decades. Read the latest article here. 
  
  Assad has appointed Naji al-Otari, head of the government that resigned on Tuesday, as the new caretaker prime minister, the official news agency reported. 
  
  The government has little power in Syria, where power is concentrated in the hand of Assad, his family and the security apparatus. Otari has been prime minister since 2003.
  
  

  The president is expected to address the public in the coming hours.
• Timestamp: 

  1:48pm

  Major government reforms loom in Syria; read the latest article here.

• Timestamp: 

  12:50pm

  Thousands of Syrians wave their national flag and rally in the capital Damascus to show their support for President Bashar al-Assad. Pro-government protests are also taking place in four other major cities.

  "There are [pro-government] protesters coming from across the country. And there are protests not only here in Damascus but across the country," Al Jazeera's Cal Perry reported.

  

  [Image by AFP]

• Timestamp: 

  12:42pm

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry, reporting from Damascus:

  Sources are now also telling us that there will be a parliamentary session tonight at 6pm. And what they are telling us is if the president speak, and it's still a big if, that he would then speak from the parliament to the people. Ceratinly, I think that is what people want to see. They want to hear from the president.

  Earlier, Perry said:

  We know the emergency law will be lifted, that is confirmed... the question is when will that happen. It's quite possible that could happen tonight, if the president decides to come out and address these crowds.

• Timestamp: 

  12:30pm

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry reported from Damascus:

  It was Thursday afternoon when Dr Bouthaina Shaaban, the senior adviser to the president, gave a press conference announcing that there would be a number of reforms. One of the key things she said was there are no red line. Everything is up for negotiations to the president of Syria.

  Now the parliament has been in meetings ever since then dealing with some of those reforms, at times asking the president's office to clarify exactly what these reforms will be. We do expect the parliament potentially tonight will announce that these reforms have been accepted. At that point the cabinet will resign as part of the reforms and potentially we could end up hearing from the Syrian president Bashar al Assad.

• Timestamp: 

  12:10pm

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry reported from Damascus:

  The [Syrian] cabinet will resign. Our senior producer here on the ground has been speaking with senior government officials and they do confirm that the government will be resigning tonight as part of the reforms that will be pushed through.

• Timestamp: 

  12:05pm

  The Syrian government will resign on Tuesday and a new cabinet will see the light within 24 hours, sources have told Al Jazeera.

• Timestamp: 

  11:55am

  Tens of thousands of Syrians held pro-government rallies in the capital city, Damascus.

• Timestamp: 

  11:05am

  Protest violence continues across Syria. Demonstrators accuse security forces of firing on peaceful protests, while the government says that the police are simply defending themselves from attack.

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry has this report: