400 Muslims Gather in Simferopol to Condemn Syrian Regime

On 5 August, in front of the Crimean Republican Center for Children’s and Youth Creative Activities in Simferopol, a meeting “in support of the people of Syria” was held, reported religion.in.ua" with  reference to islamsng.com.

The event was organized by public associations “human right movement of the Crimea” and “Davet” closely connected with the organization Hizb ut-Takhrir al-Islami which has been active in the Crimea for over 10 years. The purpose of the meeting was to condemn the “regime of Bashar Assad.”

According to eye-witnesses, the meeting was attended by over 400 persons. The picket participants held banners “Muslims-one umma,” “Armies of Islam, help people of Sham,” “Victory is Allah’s!” and other banners including ones condemning the Syrian regime. They read out certain passages from Quran. Many of the participants held black flags containing the shahadah which have traditionally been used by the Hizb ut-Takhrir al-Islami party.

The participants of the action included Crimean Tatars, newly converted Muslims and Syrians living in Ukraine. According to the head of Davet, Ruslan Ramazanov, “the participants of the meeting passed an address to all the Muslims of the world calling them to support the Syrian people.” The meeting was surrounded by the police who did not interfere in the event.

Let us remind that it is not the first public action in the Crimea held by the participants of Hizb ut-Takhrir al-Islami movement. The organization holds annual conferences on questions of “revival of Caliphate.” The Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Crimea and a number of other Muslim organizations of the Crimea usually distance themselves from the events held by Hizb ut-Takhrir al-Islami as they consider it a dangerous organization.