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| The four bachelorettes holding their banners before their arrest |
Four young would-be “Brides in White” arrested by Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad’s security agents in a Damascus souk midday Wednesday
remain incommunicado in locked interrogation rooms.
Security men wearing the uniform of black leather jackets rounded
up the four young eligible females as they paraded in typical white bridal
gowns in Souk Midhat Pasha with three banners calling for peace.
There were no would-be grooms in sight at the time of the arrest
of the four bachelorettes.
They are Kanda Zaour, Lubna Zaour, Ru’a Jaafar and Rima Dali.
Here is what their three banners proclaimed:
- Syria is for us all (signed: Syrian 100%)
- For the Syrian human being’s sake, Syrian society announces the cessation of all military operations across Syria (signed: Syrian 100%)
- You and us are exhausted. We want to live for another solution (signed: Syrian 100%)
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| Activist Mais Kreydee |
Syrian author and human rights activist Mays Kreydee, who now
lives in exile after being banned from writing in September 2011 and arrested
and released in May 2012, went on air last night to express her concern about the
fate of the four young girls.
The governor of Damascus Midhat Pasha founded Souk Midhat Pasha
(also the Long Souk), where the “Brides in White” were manhandled and picked
up, in 1878. The souk stands above the Roman "Street Called
Straight" that used to traverse the city from Bab al-Jabieh to Bab al-Sharqi,
and runs parallel to Souk
al-Hamidiyeh, with numerous side-souks separating them.
On
both sides of the souk the shops are filled with local textiles, silk cloth,
woolen cloaks, headbands and skull caps; there are also ancient khans (inns)
whose entrances and archways house an endless number of other smaller shops.
