Hundreds of Syrians demonstrated again today in southern Syria demanding the fall of the government, capping a week of protests amid worsening living conditions, according to activists and a non-governmental organization.

Sweden province has been rocked by protests since mid-August, when the government lifted fuel subsidies, affecting the lives of a population already tested by 12 years of war.

In Bosra, Deraa province, a stronghold of the 2011 peaceful uprising that turned into civil war after the protests were violently suppressed, dozens of residents shouted slogans against President Bashar al-Assad.

“The Syrian uprising continues, our demands of 2011 have not changed,” activist Ahmed al-Moqdad told AFP on the sidelines of the rally.

“We reiterated the principles we will not renounce: freedom, dignity and unity of Syria“, he added.

In this city controlled by Syrian factions that have signed “reconciliation” deals with Damascus since 2018, protesters held banners that read: “Leave, we want to live” and “Staying silent today is perpetuating tyranny.”

Tthe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced the holding of demonstrations in various areas of Deraa province “reiterating the demands of the uprising based on the fall of the regime and political transition”.

In 2018, the city of Deraa passed almost entirely into government control with the deployment of the army in rebel districts under a ceasefire agreement that gave the rebels the choice to either lay down their arms or flee.

In Sweida province, a stronghold of the Druze minority, hundreds of people demonstrated in the central square of the town of the same name, participating in the largest gathering since mid-August.

Sweda province has largely been left out of the country’s bloody conflict.