Syrian Forces Disperse Kurdish Rights Demo

The demonstration would have been larger but for a last-minute decision to bow out by a coalition of opposition groups whose spokesman was preparing to face a court for "harming the reputation of the state," a party official said.

Riot police broke up the sit-in by around 50 people from three Kurdish political groups who had gathered in central Damascus to call for recognition of human rights and an end to emergency laws in Syria.

The demonstrators had asked for respect of "human rights principles and a just and democratic solution to the Kurdish question in the framework of Syria's unity," said Aziz Dawi, a leader of the Democratic Progressive Kurdish Party.

They also wanted Syrian authorities to "end emergency law and accord civil liberties" to the population, he said.

Kurds in Syria are estimated to number 1.5 million, about nine percent of the population.

Around 200,000 Kurds have been denied Syrian citizenship, which makes it difficult for them to find work in the socialist, government-controlled economy.

The National Democratic Rally (NDR), a coalition of five disparate opposition parties which are banned in Syria, on Friday cancelled plans to participate in the annual sit-in.

The group had decided not to join the protest due to "the situation affecting the country and external pressures that are currently weighing on Syria," Dawi said.

Dawi also said the NDR supporters were "astonished and denounced the decision to send NDR spokesman Hassan Abdelazim before a military court."

Abdelazim is to appear before a state military court on December 18 for distributing an information bulletin published by the opposition coalition since 1991. He is accused of "harming the reputation of the state."

The NDR, made up of groups as diverse as communists, nationalists, liberals, Kurds and others drew up the so-called "Damascus Declaration" in October, inviting the Syrian people to work peacefully for radical change.

The so-called "Damascus Declaration" called for the installation of a democratic regime to "lift the country out of the mold of the security state," and was also signed by the London-based Muslim Brotherhood.

The statement blamed the "authorities' monopoly of everything for more than 30 years" for the faltering "national social fabric of the Syrian people, an economic collapse that poses a threat to the country, and exacerbating crises of every kind."

Ruled by the powerful Baath party regime since 1963, Syria is governed under emergency laws that grant extra power to security forces and courts.