Damascus Churches Halt Palm Sunday Events After Clashes Rock Christian Town

Palm Sunday processions in Damascus have been cancelled after violence broke out in a predominantly Christian town, a church representative said Saturday.

The unrest occurred on Friday evening in Suqaylabiyah, where residents reportedly clashed with armed groups from nearby villages that had entered the area, according to locals and monitoring reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In response, church authorities in the capital decided to suspend all scheduled celebrations.

“We have made a collective decision in all the churches of Damascus to stop all the celebrations scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, not out of fear, but in solidarity with our people in the city of Suqaylabiyah,” said Raafat Abu al-Nasr, general coordinator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Youth, in comments to AFP.

The move comes several months after a deadly suicide bombing at a Damascus church in June that claimed 25 lives.

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