The new Syrian interim government currently enjoys broad support since Assad's fall. With religious minorities making up one-third of the population, local leaders and activists urge concrete steps to strengthen diverse voices and civil society.
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00:0016 months before the Assad regime fell, it lost control of Suwayda.
00:05Government forces were nowhere to be seen.
00:08Residents policed the city themselves and called for freedom for Syria.
00:13We arrived in Suwayda a few days after the government fell.
00:16We wanted to meet leaders and activists of the protest movement calling for change in
00:21Syria.
00:23The situation now is acceptable, but it's chaotic.
00:33Without any police, there's been an increase in crime and there are different armed groups.
00:42After local religious leaders petitioned the government in 2014, the Assad regime allowed
00:47local men to serve their military service without leaving the region, to avoid fighting
00:52with and killing other Syrians.
00:55Al Karama Square was the site of many demonstrations.
00:58People still gather here, but now their demands are different.
01:01I study medicine and I'm afraid that I could be forced to only treat women.
01:08That is annoying.
01:10I'm also afraid that Islam will be imposed in the wrong way.
01:16The revolution did not end on the 8th of December.
01:18It will continue until the Syrian people achieve their goals.
01:23Local activists say concrete steps need to be taken.
01:27The courts need to be reopened.
01:30It's a disaster for society and the people if they are disrupted.
01:36There is always encouragement from the religious authorities.
01:40But we work on the basis of civil society, not a religious one.
01:46There is support for strengthening different voices and to go beyond the status quo.
01:52The religious side's credibility is revealed by the facts.
01:57The political movement in Suwayda was founded by the Druze minority.
02:01There are now calls for a national Syrian identity and fears that tensions could spill
02:05over if they're ignored by the new government.
02:09If the government in Damascus is one based on skin colour or religious identity, that
02:15will cause larger divisions and fractures in society.
02:20Armed conflict still threatens the peace in some areas of Syria, leading residents to
02:26worry the division could threaten the future of the people of Suwayda.