Al-Qaeda quashes anti-government protest in Syria

An anti-government protest in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib has ended abruptly after members of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the war-torn country threatened to shoot at demonstrators, an activist says.

Protestors gathered in Idlib city in the afternoon, using the relative lull in fighting to resume demonstrations against President Bashar Assad, according to activist Ibrahim al-Idlibi, who is from the city.

But when demonstrators began marching from the gathering point to Idlib’s main square, members of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, al-Nusra Front, tried to stop them.

“The al-Nusra fighters came out and began to fight the protesters, to threaten them with their guns saying, ‘If you don’t leave the streets, we’ll start to fire,'” Idlibi says.

Al-Nusra proceeded to seize about 10 people and wave al-Qaeda’s black flag, according to Idlibi.

— AFP