(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Syrian activists in Jordan continued a hunger strike for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday to protest against the violence in their country and pressure the UN to do more to help Syrian refugees across the region.
Since last Thursday, the hunger strikers have gathered from 9:00am until 6:00pm daily outside the UN building in Amman, holding up the Syrian resistance flag and signs denouncing the bloodshed in Syria.
The hunger strikers, whose numbers have increased from 10 to 19, do not represent any political party or ideology, according to Rima Fleihan, the spokesperson of the local committees coordinating support for the Syrian opposition.
"We decided to gather daily outside the UN because we wanted to send a message to the international organisation to do more to help Syrians back home and refugees in the region," Fleihan told The Jordan Times outside the UN building.
"There are around two million displaced people across Syria who were forced to leave their homes because of the fierce attacks by the regime," she said.
"I am scared that if we manage to defeat the regime, we will not celebrate because of the great number of dead."
She also urged countries around the world to expel their Syrian ambassadors because "they represent a cruel regime".
"All criminals must be prosecuted because of their inhuman crimes," the Syrian activist said.
Ayah Khaled said that she went on the hunger strike after her family encouraged her to do so.
"I wanted to support my fellow Syrians back home so I decided to join the hunger strike yesterday," the Amman-born Syrian activist said.
Mohammad Ibrahim, a Syrian Kurdish activist, said that this event and other demonstrations represent the unity of the Syrian people.
"The regime tries to portray a false image of Syrians as being disunited. These attempts try to destroy the image of the Syrian revolution. We are all one big family," added Ibrahim, who has been on a hunger strike for the three days.
Abdul Jaleel Shaqaqi, a Syrian activist who left Hama last year, said that the UN and other global organisations must enforce international conventions that provide for people's safety.
"The Syrian regime must be prosecuted because they breach these conventions," added the 33-year-old, who has been on hunger strike for six days.
He called on the international community to put an end to the bloodshed in Syria.
Fleihan said the activists would remain on hunger strike and move their demonstration to the premises of other international organisations in Amman.
"Next week, we might move to the Red Cross building because this organisation must be more responsible for Syrians. They can stop killings for hours in Syria and help provide Syrians with medical assistance," she told The Jordan Times.
Fleihan said that many Syrian and Jordanian writers and activists were visiting the hunger strikers daily to check up on them.
"They tried to convince us to stop our strike because our resistance effort will take a long time, but this is the simplest thing we can do for our brothers," she said.
She stressed, however, that she and her fellow Syrians have not called for military intervention in their country.
"We want a peaceful solution to end these disasters," she said.
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