THE HAGUE, October 29. /TASS/. About several dozen people have turned out in the Dutch capital to show support to Russia’s operation in Syria. They gathered at Square 1813 on Saturday and, escorted by police, marched to the US embassy to the Netherlands where demanded to stop aggression and interference in Syria’s affairs.
An activist of the committee of Syrians in the Netherlands, Sonja van den Ende, told TASS, the decision to stage the rally was taken as in the Dutch media there were "so many lies about Assad, Syria, about Putin and Russia."
"So it is time to do something here, and that is why we organize this demonstration today. We stand for sovereign Syria under President Assad, because he is an elected president. Russia has an agreement with Syria, Mr. Assad asked Russia to help them and that is what they did," she said.
Another activist who took part in the demonstration, Anneke de Laaf, said, "The fact is that Assad is the legitimate head of state of the Syrian republic. That is a fact. You cannot like this fact as clearly Barack Obama doesn't like it, but it is a fact. He (al-Assad) is head of the state, he is chosen by the Syrian people and he has asked the Russian government to help him fight the foreign insurgents that are terrorizing his country."
"So what Russia and Assad are doing is completely legitimate within international rights," she said. "And the US is there without any permission. They were not asked by Syrian government. They don't have a UN resolution to back them up. So they are there illegally."
"It is hard for me to understand sometimes why Russia is even negotiating with America on how to solve the situation. Because America shouldn't even be there," she said in conclusion.
At the rally, the demonstrators pointed out that in spite of its promise, the US had failed to separate moderate political opposition and terrorists.
"In our opinion, it vividly demonstrates that such separation does not exist and that the United States set alight the wick of the Syrian war and that all the militants opposing Assad’s government are eating from one feed box, the feed box operated by the CIA," Dmitry Pisarev, the rally participant, said.
"We hope that today we have made a modest contribution by getting across to residents of The Hague what is really going on. We hope we have brought our point home to consciousness of the European public.".