By Brook Sabin
3 News can reveal the New Zealand Government has summonsed representatives from the Syrian embassy for urgent discussions - as concerns grow about the country's increasingly violent uprising.
The move comes as protestors gathered in Auckland this afternoon calling on the international community to intervene.
“As the humanitarian conditions are worsening minute by minute, we hope the international community will do something,” says Ali Akil of Syrian Solidarity New Zealand, who does not accept the West standing-by watching President Bashar al-Assad crush his own people.
He says that at the very least Syrians need supplies from the West for its rebel fighters.
“We need support, we need money, we need arms,” he says. “And we need medical aid, just to give ourselves enough support to liberate ourselves”.
So far, however, the West has failed to act, and NATO’s Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen has stated there is no intention to intervene in the future either.
The United States is also distancing itself from the region.
A spokesman for the Minister of Foreign Affairs has confirmed to 3 News though that officials from the Syrian embassy in Canberra have been summonsed to Wellington for urgent discussions, and it is understood officials are considering implanting trade sanctions in concert with other countries.
Away from the all the political rhetoric, however, today’s protesters just want the ouster of President al-Assad.
3 News