Dozens of opposition protesters who have been challenging the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have disappeared over the weekend, signaling that al-Assad regime is far from fulfilling protesters' demands for democracy and human rights.

Activists who have challenged the government during the protests over the past months have been arrested by secret police in various cities throughout the country, from Harasta and Daraa in the southwest corner to the capital city of Damascus.

"The disappearances were yet another indication that the government’s decision to lift emergency rule, in place since 1963, might prove more rhetoric than reform," wrote Anthony Shadid in the New York Times.

Wissam Tarif, a human rights activist based in Damascus who has taken the rare step of disclosing his name to the international press, reports that he has recorded 217 names of disappeared activists since Friday prayers. 

“Names keep pouring in," Tarif told the New York Times. “This is not going to stop.  There is going to be much more bloodshed.”

--

--

Reach Executive Producer Mary Slosson here.  Follow her on Twitter @maryslosson.