A celebration Sunday in downtown Chicago could only be described as an outpouring of pent up emotion. Hundreds of Syrian-Americans were brought together in joyous celebration as their home nation's 52-year-dictatorship is now over.
Hundreds of Syrian-Americans in Chicago celebrated Bashar Al-Assad's resignation and the downfall of the Assad regime government in Syria on Sunday.A celebration Sunday in Chicago's Congress Plaza in the Loop could only be described as an outpouring of pent up emotion.
"We are completely stunned by the speed of this. And we got it," Syrian American Council President Hani Atassi said. "This is a celebration now."Ironically, the gathering was planned on Saturday, even before Bashar Al-Assad resigned as president and fled Syria. Organizers intended to pile on the mounting international pressure for him to leave, not imagining it would happen this fast.
I hope Syria to be a democratic country, and I hope the people of Syria will feel the freedom and will look to the future.In the crowd Sunday were people of all ages. Among them were many who have been in Chicago for decades, unable to go home for fear of political persecution. Many others were recent immigrants, who left Syria as refugees when the country's civil war began 13 years ago.
"I'm feeling so happy. My country is back," Syrian refugee Sadell Matar Al-Haj said. "I have left the war when I was four years old, and I'm just so happy to feel that I have a country again."While it is unclear what kind of government will take over in Syria, for now at least there is hope.
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