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Syria Peace Talks: Assad Foes Face Off With Supporters At Key Meeting

<p>As the delegates to the Syria peace talks locked in heated disagreement, protesters on both sides faced off outside the venue.</p>
Image: Activists take part in a street performance Wednesday during a protest action calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the war in Syria, near the venue of the peace talks in Montreux, Switzerland.
Anti-Assad activists near the venue of the Geneva II peace talks in Montreux, Switzerland, on Wednesday.PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP - Getty Images

MONTREAUX, Switzerland -- It was not just the delegates at the Syria peace talks on Wednesday who were in heated disagreement -- protesters from both sides traveled to the Swiss city of Montreux to make their voices heard.

"Assad is a criminal, a human criminal who committed a genocide in Syria by attacking its people with gas and chemical weapons," said Wael Al Hafez near the Geneva II talks in the Swiss city of Montreaux.

"We're here for the revolution in Syria which will continue until we will achieve liberty and democracy."

In a macabre display of street theater, a row of anti-regime demonstrators played dead, lying under bloodied white cloth, while a man wearing an Assad mask and blood-stained hands stood over them.

Others, such as Mark Yamin, were among the small handful of people near the venue for the talks who were flying the Syrian flag in support of Assad.

Image: Demonstrators support Syrian President Bashar Assad as they protest Wednesday near the venue of the of peace talks in Montreux, Switzerland.
Demonstrators show their support for Syrian President Bashar Assad in Montreux.Salvatore Di Nolfi / AP

"I came here with my family and friends to show the world that were behind our president," said Yamin, a Syrian living in Germany. "We love him and we want him and we will fight for him.

"We’re fighting for this country to destroy the terrorist in our country. I want to tell all the people of the world that we will live in freedom and we will not accept a new world order."

Disagreements even boiled over between journalists covering Geneva II. One journalist, seemingly pro-Assad, had a loud argument with an apparently anti-Assad journalist that lasted for a few minutes.

The row was broken up by the conference organizers.