WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Demonstrators angry over worsening economic conditions in Syria stormed the governor's office in the city of Sweida and set fire to parts of the building amid a heavy exchange of gunfire, authorities and witnesses said
Earlier, more than 200 people had gathered around the building in the centre of the Druze-majority city, chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, they said, amid spiralling prices and economic hardship.
"The governor's office was burnt completely from the inside," said Rayan Maarouf, a civic activist and editor of Suwayda 24, a local website that covers the southern region, who said several people were wounded in the exchange of gunshots. Sweida province has been spared the violence seen in other parts of Syria since the start of the over-decade long conflict that began after pro-democracy protests erupted against Assad's family ruler were violently crushed by security forces.
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