On the Damascus demonstration against attacks on Iraq

Syrian youths climbed the building of the US embassy in Damascus on Saturday. One of them tore, using his teeth, the American flag and dropped it from the roof to hundreds of demonstrators who gathered before the building in objection of the military operation against Iraq.

Meanwhile, other Syrian youths and students took to the streets of Damascus Saturday to express anger, condemnation and denunciation of the US - British attacks against the "brotherly Iraqi people."

One female student read a message addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on behalf of the masses and students. The message called for promptly ending the attacks against Iraq.

The message also called for lifting the sanctions on Iraq, Libya, and Sudan, for stopping the suffering and putting an end to the impact of such policies, which it said are a violation of international relations, international legitimacy, the UN charter, human rights and the very bases of justice, equality and democracy.

A group of students and youths then handed the message to the UN's resident Coordinator, Tawfiq Bin Amara, in Damascus. Bin Amara voiced the hope for the reduction of the suffering of the Arab people with the commencement of Ramadan. He referred to the UN secretary general's words, in which he said: "It is a sad day for the UN and the whole world."

SANA's correspondent reported that while passing in front of the US embassy, "security personnel tried to stop the demonstrators who forced into the embassy, penetrating the security barriers and shouting slogans in condemnation of the attack against Iraq."

The demonstrators held banners with slogans including: "The Children of Iraq are stronger than the missiles of the US and Britain," "Aggression against Iraq is an aggression against the Arab nation," "No to the unjust siege against the people of Iraq, Libya and Sudan," "The killing of people is the slogan of Anglo - US policy," and "People of Syria side with the Iraqi brothers."

US diplomatic sources in Damascus said that the American government has officially objected to the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Walid al-Mu'allim, over "what happened to its centers and institutions in Damascus" and held "the Syrian government responsible for the security of these institutions and the American citizens in Damascus as well as their safety."

The sources added that the US ambassador in Damascus traveled to Beirut. In a similar statement, the British embassy in Damascus said that the British ambassador handed on Saturday the Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa' an official complaint and called on him in the name of the British government "to protect buildings of the UK and to compensate the losses resulting from damage inflicted in these buildings as a result of the attack." The statement conveyed al-Sharaa's apology to the ambassador.

Since Saturday night, Syrian security forces have been seen for the first time with armored vehicles intensively cordoning the US and British embassies and affiliated establishments. The same security measures are also being taken for the buildings of the UN and the Saudi and Kuwaiti embassies in Damascus.

Syrian Minister of the Interior Muhammad Harba personally supervised these security measures.

The Damascus demonstration was considered the largest in decades, with over one million students, women youths and elderly persons taking part. They chanted, "Ye Clinton, the coward, you just go and chase women."

Some demonstrators called for boycotting the US and British goods, while others expressed readiness to join Iraqis in the "Jihad."

In Washington, the US State Department called upon US citizens to avoid travel to Syria and upon the Americans who live in Syria to limit their movements.