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Assyrian Village in Syria Under Siege by the Security forces May 6, 06 The Assyrian village of Tel-Sakra in the district of Tel-Tammer, is under the jurisdiction of the Governorate of Hassake in Northeast Syria. During the last few days the village has been besieged by Syria's police department and the criminal security forces. They are here to punish the entire community for the mistake of three foolish youth. The police tactics are to intimidate, insult and threaten all the villagers (children, women, elderly, and men) to accuse them of being accessories to the crime, supposedly to teach them a lesson. They do it by cursing the people, ransacking homes and churches searching for the three young men who are not there an d may have even escaped to another country knowing how harshly they will be treated if captured. The security forces intend to stay in the village and continue their punishment of the villagers until the young men turn themselves in. This started when four boys decided to attend a soccer match in another village on the other side of the Khabour River in the district of Tel-Tammer. For lack of a bridges the villagers often use various means to travel to the other side. When the four youth came to the river a man was fishing on the other side. They asked him if he would bring the small boat used by the people to cross the river to their side so that they can go to the other village. He responded with profanity which was answered in kind by the youth. Three of the four boys jumped in the river and swam to the other side and began to fight with the man. A passerby farmer from the nearby village informed them that they are beating up a police officer. After hearing this they let go and fled the scene. The man was taken to the hospital where he was treated for minor wounds. Meanwhile, in the governorate of Hassake, the conflict was exaggerated and blown out of proportion which led to the sending of the troops to capture the three young men. Since they were not there the security forces decided to punish all the villagers for not handing them over and decided to take the entire village hostage to force the young men to turn themselves in . Evidently this is Syria's style of justice when dealing with its Christian population. Whenever something goes wrong everyone is presumed guilty until proven innocent and the entire community has to be punished when any of its members commits an infraction. The helpless Assyrian residents of Tel-Sakra, have appealed to the government of Syria and the international community to stop this kind of treatment by the security forces who are expected to protect them rather than persecuting them for something they have not done. They write: "We are requesting from the government officials and the members of the Syrian Parliament, as well as the Human Rights Organizations and the liberal Syrians, to remove the siege off our village and to stop the group punishment tactics imposed on the entire village residents. We ask the authorities why they are blaming all the village residents for the mistakes of three foolish youths? We also request, especially from the people of Tel-Sakra in the homeland or Diaspora, to seek the Human Rights Organizations everywhere to assist us in lifting this siege, and to stop the insults and the collective community punishments that we are presently subjected to." The Residents of the Village of Tel-Sakra, Syria ----

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