Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Rama Jarmakani
00:25 Khaled Salloum | Civil activist
01:28 Shorouk Abu Zaidan | Lawyer and activist
01:37 Basma Al-Aqbani | Sweida official
02:10 Rawad Ballan | Journalist and civil activist

Script:

16 months before the Assad Regime fell, it lost control of Sweida. Government forces were nowhere to be seen. Residents policed the city themselves. And called for freedom for Syria.

We arrived in Sweida a few days after government fell. We wanted to meet leaders and activists of the protest movement calling for change in Syria.

0:24
+++SOT+++ Khaled Salloum - Civil activist in the organization "Judur Syria"
"The situation now is acceptable. But it's chaotic. Without any police there has been an increase in crime and there are different armed groups."

0:43
After local religoius leaders petitioned the government in 2014, the Assad regime allowed local men to serve their military service without leaving the region, to avoid fighting with and killing other Syrians. 

Al-Karama Square was the sight of many demonstrations. People still gather here, but now their demands are different.

1:02
+++SOT Voxpop1+++
I study medicine and I am afraid that I could be forced to only treat women. That is annoying. I am also afraid that Islam will be imposed in the wrong way. 

1:16
+++SOT Voxpop 2+++
The revolution did not end on December 8. The revolution will continue. Until the Syrian people achieve their goals.

1:22
Local activists say concrete steps need to be taken.

1:28
+++SOT Shorouk Abu Zaidan - Lawyer and Civil Activist +++
The courts need to be reopened. It's a disaster for society and the people if they are disrupted. 
+++ 

1:34 
+++SOT Basma Al-Aqbani, Member of the political body formed in Sweida after the movement +++
There is always encouragement from the religious authorities, but we work on the basis of civil society, not a religious one. There was support for strengthening different voices, and to go beyond the status quo. The religious side's crediblity is revealed by the facts.

1:57 
The political movement in Sweida was founded by the Druze minority. There are now also calls for a national Syrian identity - and fears that tensions could spill over if they are ignored by the new government.  

2:09
+++SOT Rawad Ballan - Journalist and Civil Activist+++
If the government in Damascus is one based on skin color or religious identiy, that will cause larger divisions and fractures in society. 
++++

2:20
Armed conflict still threatens the peace in some areas of Syria. Leading residents to worry that division could threaten the future of the people of Sweida. 

ENDE