Syrians commemorate graffiti that 'kickstarted' the Syrian revolution

Syrians commemorate graffiti that 'kickstarted' the Syrian revolution
Tuesday marked the 11 year anniversary of the graffiti spraying by school children in Syria's Daraa, which warned the Syrian president of an upcoming revolution.
2 min read
17 February, 2022
The graffiti read "its your turn next, Doctor" [Getty]

commemorated on Tuesday the 11 year anniversary of the anti- graffiticonsideredby many to have kickstarted the .

On 15 February 2011, a number of school children took to the walls of a local school in theHay al-Arbeen districtin the southwestern province of writing "it's your turn next, Doctor", referring to, as theArab Spring uprisings spread across the Middle East.

Children from the schoolwere later detained by Syrian security forces, which led to people across the citydemonstrating and calling for their release.

"From here the spark of the dream of the Syrians with dignity started, from here the spark of the great Syrian revolution started," twitter user .

Mouawiya Syasneh - who says he was 14 years old when he and his friends spray-painted the infamous graffiti -told Anadolu Agencyin 2018 they were“encouraged by the anti-regime uprisings taking place at the time in Tunisia and Egypt”.

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“They tortured us... but they released us after people began pouring into the streets when the anti-regime demonstrations began” Syasneh said.

Demonstrations erupted across Syria after the children's bold actions, however calls fordemocracy were metwith a violent crackdown by Assad's forces.

Since the bloody war began over 500,000 lives have been lost, more thanfive million Syrians have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries and an additional six million Syrian civilians have been internally displaced.