The contagion of democracy has at last begun to infect Damascus

Syria's turmoil Reaching the capital

The contagion of democracy has at last begun to infect Damascus

DURING four months of protests that have spread across the entire country, the city that has been most protected from the waves of popular rage is Damascus, the capital itself. Almost all the poor villages and suburbs surrounding it have been affected but the more prosperous central parts of the city have generally been kept off-limits to the protesters. This may now be changing, as the contagion of dissent seeps further into the heart of the capital.

Midan, just south-west of the old walled city, has witnessed protests. The largely Kurdish district of Rukn al-Din, not far from the city centre, then erupted. Protests, so far quite small, have become more frequent in Mezze, to the west, and in the old city itself. On July 15th government forces, who have generally used tear gas and batons in the capital, fired live ammunition, killing at least 20 people. The security forces are now pinning down several districts of Damascus, ringing them with checkpoints. In the past few days they have made a series of raids and arrests.

A stone's throw away, the mood among the regime's supporters, especially in the social stratum that has prospered under President Bashar Assad, borders on the hysterical. Younger members of the elite hold parties into the early hours, singing pro-Assad slogans and gulping down drinks in nightclubs. Loyalists buy flags, baseball caps and T-shirts emblazoned with the president's face. "The last days of the raj," mutters a diplomat. In the Christian district of Bab Touma, many people echo the government's view that the protesters consist of armed gangsters and Muslim extremists. Some Christian leaders grumble about the regime—in private.

As the fasting month of Ramadan approaches on August 1st, the government is bent on retaining the loyalty of the religious leaders of the country's Sunni majority, which accounts for some 75% of the population. Muhammad Bouti, a prominent sheikh, toes Mr Assad's line. But some are egging on the protesters with increasing audacity, ignoring warnings that they should keep off politics in Friday sermons, while others are more surreptitiously subversive. "I'm speaking quietly in people's ears," says an imam from a prestigious scholarly family. The protesters are encouraging people to go onto the streets after praying in the mosques during Ramadan. The coming month promises, in every sense, to be as hot as ever.

from the print edition | Middle East and Africa The Economist