Syrian Expatriates in France Condemn French Decision to Prevent Them from Voting in Upcoming Presidential Elections

 PARIS-The French government’s decision to prevent the Syrians resident in France from voting in the upcoming Syrian Presidential elections has continued to receive strong condemnation by the Syrian expatriates for the second week running.

Hundreds of Syrian expatriates on Sunday gathered at St. Michael Square in the French Capital Paris to protest the French decision raising the slogan “No to foreign intervention…Yes to presidential elections in Syria”.  

The protest event was organized by the French branch of the General Union of Syrian Students and the Syrian community in France also to voice the Syrian expatriates’ support for the steadfastness of Syria’s leadership, army and people.

In a symbolic indication of their challenge to the unjust French decision, the Syrian expatriates in France registered their names and voted for the presidential candidate Dr. Bashar Al-Assad on electoral boards which they placed in downtown Paris. By so doing, the protesters wanted to send a message to the French government and the entire world that only the Syrians are to decide Syria’s future.

The Syrian expatriates also drew Syria’s map on a big white board and put their Syrian flag-colored fingerprints on. They aimed to express their insistence to cast their votes for their candidate and to stress their loyalty and amity to their homeland.

Fatima Ghrewati, a Syrian expatriate doctor who has been staying in France for forty years, told SANA that she wanted to say to the French government and the world that the voice of the Syrians will continue to be high and won’t be silenced by Syria’s enemies’ unfair decisions against the Syrian people and against the principles and values of freedom and democracy.

Zubaida Muqabel, another expatriate, said “we gathered here to express our condemnation of the French government’s anti-Syria stances and its blatant intervention in the Syrian internal affairs through preventing us from our constitutional right to elect our president.” 

Speakers at the gathering stressed their full support for Presidential candidate Dr. Bashar Al-Assad starting from their confidence that he is the wise statesman who will lead Syria to safety shore despite conspiracies and terrorist aggression.

H. Mustafa