The All-Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Syria organised a panel discussion titled "Raqqa and Beyond: The fight against ISIS and its aftermath" on 24 October, attended by our Research and Policy Coordinator Bilal Sukkar, that addressed expected challenges following the ousting of ISIS from Raqqa.
Members of Rethink Rebuild Society and Syria Relief charity met on Monday 23rd October, with Detective Chief Inspector Janet Hudson and three of her colleagues, in the North West Counter Terrorism Policing. The meeting focused on issues facing Syrians due to some counter terrorism measurements like airport stops.
Our Development Coordinator Amaf Yousef participated - as part of the Network for Refugee Voices delegation - in the UNHCR Thematic Discussion on the Global Compact for Refugees in Geneva on the 18th of October.
Manchester local of Syrian descent, Zeina El Debs, discovered by chance that her forefather Mohammad Yaseen Hallaby was the first Muslim known to be buried in Manchester in 1902 and relays the story of how she found her forefather's grave in the following press release.
We held a silent protest for Syria on 14 October as part of the international #SyrianDayOfRage. Over 50 cities around the world, both inside and outside of Syria, held nonviolent protests on that day to call for freedom and dignity in Syria from the brutal Assad dictatorship.
We participated in Journeys Festival International's Weekender Fair on 14th and 15th of October 2017. In this Festival, we had a stall for Rethink Rebuild Society in which artist Abdullah Anezi held a calligraphy workshop and wrote people's names for them in Arabic. We also had information on female detainees in Syria with letters for people to sign to their MPs.
As a part of Journeys Festival Manchester this year, Dr Mustafa Alachkar from Rethink Rebuild Society participated in a panel discussion about "Recreating and Retaining Culture and Heritage" on Wednesday 11th of October at Longsight Library and Learning Centre.
Dr. Haytham Alhamwi gave a 'Voices from Syria' talk at an event organised by Manchester Metropolitan University's Law Society on 12 October. Dr. Alhamwi gave students an overview of the situation in Syria through his experiences as a non-violent activist in the early 2000's and answered students' questions about the conflict.
Dear Mr. Corbyn,
I was a nonviolent activist in Syria when the uprising broke out in 2011. I participated in peaceful protests and helped with humanitarian efforts. For this I paid a heavy price: I was detained for 440 days by Assad regime forces between January 2012 and March 2013.
We hosted a seminar on hate crime awareness in our multi-facility room on 7 October. This seminar had input from three different speakers: David Willetts from Greater Manchester Police, Fakhrul from Tell Mama, and Shazia Awan from Manchester City Council.