AU’s chapter of STAND protested at the Syrian Embassy March 4 over the country’s ongoing human rights abuses. STAND is a nationwide, student-run organization dedicated to fighting genocide and mass atrocities.
About a dozen AU students marched from the Dupont Circle Metro to the Wyoming Avenue embassy to put pressure on the Bashar-al Assad regime and to raise awareness about the current situation in Syria.
“With the recent crackdown in Homs, it’s necessary for us to speak up and be a voice for the voiceless,” said Co-President of STAND Cassie Wiegmann, a sophomore in the School of International Service.
Students protested at the embassy and during the nearly one-mile walk to and from the Dupont Circle Metro stop. They shouted slogans such as “Hey hey, ho ho, the Assad regime has got to go!” as bystanders shopping at the farmer’s market and sipping coffee outside Starbucks cheered them on.
A police officer on duty stood outside the Syrian embassy, but did not act against the protestors.
Thaddeus Maine, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business, came out to protest for the cause although he is not a member of STAND.
“I think it’s going to energize some of the students at American University more to get more involved and find more ways of supporting the Syrian revolution,” he said. “I also think that it’s quite possible we’ll have an effect on the people we pass by who see that this is still going on, that this wasn’t something that ended with Libya.”
While the overall tone was hopeful, the protesters acknowledged the difficulty involved in creating change in Syria.
“It’s true that maybe we as students do not have too much leverage over the Assad regime directly, but even just raising more awareness within our school, within the community, about what’s going on helps to hold him accountable, even just locally,” Wiegmann said.
During the chant, “What do we want? Peace in Syria! When do we want it? Now!”, a few protesters replaced the “Now!” with “a politically viable timeframe,” in a nod to the complicated nature of the Syrian conflict.
The group lobbied on the Hill last year for passage of the Syrian Human Rights Accountability Act, said STAND Co-President Aaron Alberico, a senior in the School of Public Affairs. The act, which would impose further sanctions on Syria in response to human rights abuses, is still pending. The group lobbied by visiting various Senate members in their offices.
Alberico said STAND wants “heightened sanctions on international firms, especially Russian technology and transport firms, that are providing tacit or direct support to atrocities in Syria, as well as a more forceful, sustained effort to bolster moderate players within Syria.”
Many of the protesters who participated in STAND’s March 4 demonstration will continue to show their support for the Syrian people by attending an Amnesty International candlelight vigil at the Syrian Embassy March 6 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
mzoglo@theeagleonline.com
