Vigil in London held for Aleppo

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – A vigil was held Tuesday in central London for victims of Aleppo and the Syrian war.

Approximately 200 demonstrators carrying Syrian flags lit candles and sang songs to show solidarity with the people of Syria.

Hannah, a 22-year-old sales manager from London attended “to show solidarity with Syrians,” she said.

“I don’t think we [Britain] do enough,” she said. “We need to do more ... we need to work together more with the whole of the EU especially for refugees to place them,” she told Anadolu Agency.

“We need to use our voice as a strong country within the world to actually make a difference to protect civilians.”

The crowd carried signs that read, “Protect Civilians” and “Enough with Assad,” among other messages, as they circled candles lit on the ground with a Syrian flag in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

“I have been volunteering with refugees in Calais, Greece and Turkey since last September,” said Izzy, an activist and volunteer who has worked with refugees in various locations in Europe for the past six months.

Izzy described the situation in Aleppo as “horrific” after more than fiver years of war in Syria.

“We had Srebrenica, Rwanda and we said never again but here we are again and the international community is watching it over social media,” she said.

The U.K. government needs to do more for refugees in Europe and “to take part in improving the horrific conditions in the Greek camps,” she said.

“At the moment at camp in Chios there is no electricity, no hot water, children are crying of cold,” she added.