Dozens of demonstrators angry over worsening economic conditions in Syria stormed and ransacked the governor's office in the southern city of Sweida on Sunday, clashing with police, the authorities and witnesses said.
Earlier, more than 200 people had gathered around the building in the centre of the Druze-majority city, chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, they said, amid spiralling prices and economic hardship.
The Ministry of Interior said they had also tried to seize the city's police headquarters, and that one policeman was killed in the ensuing clashes. "There was heavy gunfire," Maarouf told Reuters, saying it was not clear from where the shooting came in the heavily policed area. The minority Druze sect, whose faith draws its roots from Islam, have long resisted being drawn into the Syrian conflict that pits mainly Sunni rebels against Assad's rule.
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