One person killed at anti-government protest in Syria’s Sweida province

The 52-year-old becomes the first person to be killed by pro-government forces since the protests began in August.

At least one person has died of gunshot wounds sustained in an anti-government protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the southern province of Sweida, according to local news outlets and monitoring groups.

Suwayda24, a local news website run by citizen journalists, reported on Wednesday that a 52-year-old man succumbed to his wounds after security forces guarding a government building shot at nearby protesters.

The local news outlet added that the spiritual head of the Druze sect, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, met with protesters and said the man was a “martyr”.

A local media source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed the fatality.

SOHR said dozens of people were chanting anti-government slogans in front of a recently reopened state office building that deals with citizen affairs, such as outstanding military service.

“Pro-government forces fired into the air to disperse the crowd, wounding two protesters, one of whom later died,” said the Britain-based monitor.

According to the SOHR and Suwayda24, local religious authorities urged all sides to “keep the demonstrations peaceful”.

The death of the 52-year-old was the first one reported that was linked to the demonstrations that swept across Druze-majority Sweida last year due to harsh economic conditions and rising inflation levels that saw the end of fuel subsidies, as well as latent anti-Assad sentiment.

Across the province, scores of local branches of the ruling Baath party were forced shut by protesters tearing down posters of the president and his father in a rare show of defiance.

The Syrian government continues to attack opposition-controlled areas in northwest Syria, with the backing of Russia and Iran.