The reactions to the Putin Op-ed sure are enlightening, huh?

[Junkdrawer]

39. Then you really need to correct Wikipedia.....

I'm seeing demonstrations being put down with teargas leading to police being killed and police stations being set on fire and escallating out of control from there:

....

16 March Demonstrators in front of the Syrian Interior Ministry. [20][21][22] Several security officers managed to infiltrate themselves in demonstrations at different places and started shouting slogans declaring their love and loyalty to President Bashar al-Assad.[23]< The security forces arrested a number of protesters, Al Jazeera reported 25,[24] while Al Arabiya said 32[25] including activist and lawyer Suhair Atassi and Kamal Cheikho, an activist who had been released two days earlier.[26][27][28] World Organisation Against Torture published list of arrests and demanded immediate release of them.[29]

18 March[edit source | editbeta]After Friday prayers, thousands of protesters demanding an end to alleged government corruption took to the streets of cities across Syria.[30] The protesters were met with a violent crackdown orchestrated by state security forces. The protesters chanted "God, Syria, Freedom" and anti-corruption slogans.[31]

19 March[edit source | editbeta]Syrian security forces fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Daraa .[32] The crowds had been shouting "God, Syria, freedom" before the security forces intervened.[32] Witnesses said that the gas used appeared to be more toxic than ordinary tear gas.[33] The Syrian League for Human Rights reported that 10 women who had been detained on 16 March following a rally outside the interior ministry had begun a hunger strike.[34]

20 March[edit source | editbeta]Thousands took to the streets in the city of Daraa .[35] The courthouse, the Baath party headquarters in the city, and Rami Makhlouf's Syriatel building were all set on fire, and seven police were killed by armed rebels[36][37]

21 March[edit source | editbeta]Protests started to spread further across the country.[38] Thousands of people took to the streets in Daraa and troops were sent to the city.[39] Hundreds of people protested in Jassem and there were reports of protests in Banias, Homs and Hama.[39][40]

22 March[edit source | editbeta]Protests in Daraa, Jassem, Nawa and Sanamayn.[41][42] There were also reports of protests in Inkhil and rural areas around Damascus.[43] In Daraa, gunfire and tear gas was reported near the Omari mosque, which is a major gathering spot for protesters.[44]

An AFP photographer and cameraman were beaten by Syrian security forces in Daraa and had their equipment seized.[41]

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for an investigation into the deaths of six protesters who had been killed by Syrian security forces in March.[41]

23 March[edit source | editbeta]15 protesters had been killed by security forces in southern Syria.[45] At least six people were killed by security forces near Al-Omari mosque in Daraa, including a doctor and a paramedic.[45][46] Witnesses reported that a 12-year-old girl had been killed by security forces near the mosque.[45]

24 March[edit source | editbeta]20,000 protesters marched at funerals in Daraa.[47] Syrian Human Rights Committee reported that number of deaths rose to 32,[48]

25 March[edit source | editbeta]Tens of thousands took to the streets in protest around the nation .[49]

20 people were killed in uprising in Daraa which drew over 100,000 people.[50][51] A witness said that thousands of people chanted against the president's brother: "Maher you coward. Send your troops to liberate the Golan,"[52] A statue of Hafez al-Assad was dismantled and set on fire.[53] The governor's home was also set on fire.[53]

Protests in Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Homs, Latakia and Raqqa.[50][54] There were reports that one demonstrator had been shot dead by security forces in Latakia and another had been killed in Homs.[55]

26 March[edit source | editbeta]200 prisoners were released.[56]

In the cities of Latakia and Tafas, Baath party buildings and police stations were set on fire.[53]

27 March[edit source | editbeta]12 people were killed in Latakia.[57] An Al Jazeera clip on YouTube records the imam of the Ar-Rahman Mosque in Latakia telling an Al Jazeera broadcaster that a massacre is occurring in the city.[58]

29 March[edit source | editbeta]Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Aleppo, Hasaka, Homs, Tartous and Hama.[59][60][61]

....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Syrian_civil_war_(January%E2%80%93April_2011)