Beirut Spring

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Concession Thursday

May 5, 2011 · Mustapha Hamoui

In the same way that Friday has become an official day of demonstrations in the Arab Spring, Thurdays should officially be known as the regimes’ “concession Thursday”.

The Syrian regime has announced most of its major concessions on Thursdays. The concessions usually follow the “theme” of the week’s demonstrations. For example, this week’s demonstrations in Syria were all about breaking the army’s siege on Deraa. So now, to pre-empt the sting of tomorrow’s demonstrations, the regime is announcing with much fanfare that its tanks are rolling out of the beleaguered southern city.

The Syrian people are seeing through these tactics and are turning out in large numbers in demonstrations regardless. Perhaps the day should also known as “desperate Thursday”..