A/HRC/18/53 toppled the statue of the late President Assad. Highly consistent accounts given by witnesses described the events there. The armed forces surrounded the town, controlling all points of access with tanks and armoured vehicles to prevent the entry of food and medical supplies.36 The town was divided into two operational zones. Inside each zone, rows of soldiers pushed through the different areas, preceded by officers. Behind each unit there were groups of six to eight Shabbiha members, allegedly ready to shoot any soldier who looked back or refused to obey orders. Soldiers broke into homes and looted, shooting indiscriminately at cars and passers-by, and damaging property. Many of the inhabitants of Ar Rastan fled to nearby fields to hide, but were pursued, and numerous people were killed. Several of the witness accounts also referred to the killing of army officers by unidentified sniper fire during the operation.37 4. Hama Governorate 47. On 22 April, eight people were believed to have been killed in Hama, a city located north of Damascus with a population of some 700,000, in the first known instance of security forces firing at demonstrators with live ammunition in the city. A larger demonstration on 27 May involving thousands of people took place without any reported casualties, although elsewhere in the Governorate, mass arrests, indiscriminate shooting and looting by security forces were reported. For example, on 12 April, the village of Al Bayda (south-east of the city of Al Ladhiqiyya but part of the Governorate of Hama) was the scene of destruction and looting as a military operation was launched to rid it of “terrorist gangs”. It resulted in the arrest of some 400 inhabitants, some of whom were beaten and humiliated upon arrest. According to witnesses, the armed forces deployed from Baniyas to Al Bayda received orders to shoot indiscriminately upon entering the village, said to be under the control of “terrorist groups”. Security forces also took part. Video footage examined by the mission showed scores of civilians rounded up and made to lie on the ground. Some were beaten, including one man who had a bullet wound in his back. All were then taken to an unknown destination. They were eventually released following protests by their families, apparently bearing injuries consistent with the infliction of torture. 48. On 3 June, some 50,000 protestors gathered in the Al Asi square in the centre of Hama. Security was extensive in the vicinity of the square to prevent protestors from entering. A security officer gestured to the protestors, warning them not to approach the security perimeter. A few protestors managed to get through and handed flowers to some of the security officers as a gesture of peace and the rejection of violence. As they turned back, security forces fired on the protestors, who ran or threw themselves to the ground. At the same time, numerous security officers, identified by witnesses as Military Intelligence personnel, descended from vans and took up position in the vicinity of the square and the surrounding buildings.38 Other accounts confirmed that snipers, dressed in black and stationed on top of the Baath party building, started shooting at demonstrators from the opposite direction. In the aftermath of the shooting, witnesses described a chaotic scene in which demonstrators removed some of the injured on motorcycles where available, while others had to be left behind. A heavy security presence in the area, coupled with sniper fire, 36 37 38 The scale and intensity of the campaign was markedly greater than in earlier operations. Witnesses reported that they had been told that Ar Rastan was “infested with armed groups”. According to Human Rights Watch, 41 people were killed during the operations in Ar Rastan. Accounts from eyewitnesses suggest that the figures may be significantly higher. The military operation lasted until 2 June, but was most intense during the first 48 hours. Some witnesses reported that security personnel were hiding in a nearby orphan’s shelter, and that they attacked demonstrators as they approached the square. Many described this incident as a trap in which demonstrators were confined to narrow alleyways with no means of escape. 13