Syrians protest Suweida killings at London demonstration

Dozens of Syrians from minority communities rallied on Saturday in central London, calling for action to protect the Druze in their Suweida heartland, where sectarian violence has killed hundreds.

Around 80 protesters chanted "God protect Druze" and "Stop supporting Jolani", referring to Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's nom de guerre, which he had abandoned after his Islamist group seized Damascus late last year.

The demonstrators in the British capital held up placards calling for an end to deadly violence in Suweida over the past week and for a humanitarian corridor to be opened up via the Jordanian border.

Over 400 people have been killed in the Druze-majority province since Sunday, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

The sectarian clashes between the Druze and Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslim, have drawn in the Islamist-led government as well as Israel and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

In London, demonstration organiser Emad al Eismy told AFP atrocities were still going on in Suweida.

"Shootings, beheadings, raping, killing children, firing (torching) shops, homes... it's a barbarian movement going on in Suweida," he said at the protest outside the headquarters of the BBC.

"We are asking for protection. We are asking for a humanitarian corridor," he said.

AFP correspondents in Suweida reported clashes on Saturday, despite a ceasefire ordered by the government following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention.

Druze fighters said those who arrived to support the Bedouin were mostly Islamists.

Protester Maan Radwan, who has family in Suweida, fought back tears as he said some of his relatives had died in a massacre at their guesthouse in Suweida city last week.

He reproached British Foreign Secretary David Lammy for his visit to Syria earlier this month, when he met al-Sharaa.

The United Nations has called for an end to the "bloodshed" and demanded an "independent" investigation of the violence.

William Salha, like most of the protesters, also has family members still living in Suweida.

He said they were "helpless", shut in their homes, attempting to keep themselves safe.

"It's like ethnic cleansing. They want the city without its people. They are trying to do as much killing as they can," he said, accusing the Syrian government of complicity.

Another protester, a teenage schoolboy from south London at the protest with his mother, said relatives in Suweida were "truly suffering".

He said multiple members of his father's family had been gunned down and killed, with the news filtering out through an aunt.

"The armed groups came to them, they tried to resist and they shot them," he said.