THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Demonstrators hit the streets of Damascus following Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's speech in which he insisted his people loved him more than ever.
President Assad blamed the unrest gripping his country on foreign conspirators and Islamic extremists.
But Opposition figure Walid al-Bunni said: "The regime has no realisation that this is a mass street movement demanding freedom and dignity.
"Assad has not said anything to satisfy the families of the 1,400 martyrs or the national aspiration of the Syrian people for the country to become a democracy."
Activists and residents returned to the streets in the suburbs of Damascus as well as in the coastal city of Latakia shortly after Mr Assad's speech.
Addressing Syrians for the first time in more than two months, Mr Assad mixed defiance with the language of conciliation, but the concessions he laid out looked unlikely to end the uprising against him. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, June 20, 2011
