Economic protests in Syria turn violent.

Hello, you're listening to the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Vivian Noona stepping in for Leanne Byrne. Good morning.

The long-running civil war in Syria has led to weeks of protests over the country's

crumbling economy. Extreme inflation and a lack of basic supplies has prompted thousands

to take to the streets in the city of Swader. In the past few days, government forces

are reported to have opened fire on protesters. Syria is under severe international sanctions,

including from the US. As the BBC's Ad Butler reports, the protesters have been calling

on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Today is the McDoose season. McDoose is where we take eggplants and we put peppers

inside it. This man, we're going to call him Jude. He's an activist and he's a resident

of the city of Swader. One McDoose is just one small eggplant plus 5,000 Syrian pounds

when the entire average salary is 200,000. People can't live like this.

The economic hardship is the consequence of nearly 12 years of civil war in Syria, but

the situation has escalated dramatically over just the last few months.

We've had just four hours of electricity. Every day, the inflation rate is 17,000 percent.

The unemployment rate is above 25 percent.

Have you been to the protests? Of course, I've been going since the day one.

Even as the protests are growing, the Assad government has this month been bombing residential

areas in the opposition held north of the country. It stands accused of widespread torture

and the killing of hundreds of thousands of political opponents. So, for the people of

Swader, the stakes are clearly very high. This is Lubna speaking to the BBC. She's another

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