Tuesday kicked off Syrian Solidarity Week at UF, a series of events to bring attention to the ongoing conflict in Syria.
The four-day event began with students hosting an informational table session on Turlington Plaza.
Free baked goods were given to the more than 100 attendees when they asked questions about Syria, said Rana Al-Nahhas, the historian for the Arabic Cultural Association and an organizer of the event.
The week will end with a flash mob on Thursday on Turlington Plaza, where students will silently reenact scenes of Syrian suffering, she said.
The event will feature students sprawled on the ground, some dressed in black to represent members of the regime. Organizers hope to represent “the battlefield we call Syria,” Al-Nahhas said.
The 19-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology freshman said the event is important to students because the issue is a global one.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” she said. “If you’re from Syria or Mexico, it’s for the same cause. We’re all human.”
Sameer Saboungi, president of Arabic Cultural Association and student activist, said the three-year conflict has taken the lives of more than 130,000 people. That’s more than the population of Gainesville, said the 19-year-old UF international studies sophomore.
“It’s the worst humanitarian tragedy in modern times after Rwanda,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/19/2014 under the headline "Gators pay attention to conflict with Syrian Solidarity Week"]
