In the large courtyard of the Faculty of Literature of Damascus University, hundreds of jubilant students trampled a statue symbolizing the former power on Sunday, a week after the fall of the capital.
“The atmosphere is extraordinary, everyone is happy, see people’s happiness,” says Rinad Abdullah, an 18-year-old medical student.
In front of them, the several-metre-high statue of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria unchallenged from 1971 to 2000 before his son took power, was razed to the ground.
“I have an old picture where I am posing in front of the statue, now I am going to pose in the same place without the statue!” The girl says laughing.
The faculty’s dean, Dr Ali Allahm, told AFP that classes resumed on Sunday with about 80% of the staff and a “large number” of students in attendance.
In the courtyard, hundreds of students are cheering, chanting revolutionary slogans and waving the three-star flag, a symbol of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising.
“This is a moment we’ve been waiting for for a long time. And then, there is no longer that statue that tortured us with its presence,” says Yasmine Chehab, a 29-year-old English literature student.
The student added, “We finally feel free! We can finally say what we think without any fear.” The student says she is confident about the future of Syria.
She adds, “There will be space for all communities, who will move forward hand in hand.”
Thousands of students staged a spontaneous demonstration marching to central Umayyad Square, where Syrians have been celebrating the fall of Bashar al-Assad for a week.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, who is in charge of the transition in Syria, assured on Wednesday that the coalition led by the Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) will guarantee the rights of all in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state. Country.
flags everywhere
Schoolchildren in Damascus, some in uniform, returned to class on Sunday for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, according to AFP journalists.
Girls make victory signs while going to school. One of them has a three-star flag tattooed on his cheek. Others proudly wave flags fluttering in the wind.
“The school has asked us (…) to send middle and high school students back to class. The youngest child will return in two days,” Raghida Ghosn, 56, a mother of three, told AFP.
Inside the classroom, little or almost nothing has changed. A large flag symbolizing the revolution is hung on the wall.
According to a public school employee, attendance on Sundays “does not exceed 30%,” but “the numbers should gradually increase.”
Sunday mass was also celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition in Damascus.
Life has also resumed in shops and businesses and residents have been going to their offices from the early hours of the day.
In front of a bakery in the residential and popular district of Rokan-Edene, about 10 people stood peacefully in a queue, an AFP journalist reported.
On sidewalks, street vendors give out cans of gasoline to residents suffering from fuel shortages.
In Damascus, as everywhere in Syria, there are frequent power cuts. They leave residents without power for long periods of time, sometimes up to 20 hours a day in some neighborhoods.