Syria fuel price hikes trigger widest protests since Assad fall

Protests have erupted across Syria following a sharp rise in fuel prices over the weekend. Demonstrators burned tyres and blocked key roads, including the highway linking Damascus to Aleppo. The protests are reported to be the widest since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad almost two years ago.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Syrian government raised diesel prices by 40% to 175 Syrian pounds ($1.32) a liter on Saturday. Other fuel prices also increased, with 95-octane gasoline rising by 28% to 195 pounds and 90-octane gasoline by 26% to 185 pounds. The price hikes have added to the economic pressure on Syrians, with 90% of the population living below the poverty line, as estimated by the United Nations Development Programme.

Protesters have also blocked convoys of crude tankers traveling towards refineries in central Syria. Some demonstrators are demanding the dismissal of the energy and economy ministers and the head of the Syrian Petroleum Company. Protesters quoted by the Jerusalem Post expressed their frustration with the fuel price hikes, with one saying "We don't want higher wages. All we want is lower diesel and other fuel prices."

Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, Jerusalem Post — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.