Assad junior inherited a tightly controlled and repressive political structure, where opposition was not tolerated.
On the other hand, other posts appear to try to whip up anger and resentment towards ethnic minorities.The page also posted about an unlikely cross-border alliance that emerged at last Saturday’s protest and that saw union flags and tricolours carried side-by-side.
Protesters carrying a “Coolock Says No” banner marched through the streets.It is believed those carrying it were associated with the movement in Dublin which is opposed to asylum seekers moving into a site in the north of the city.One of the men, who travelled from Dublin with the group, posted a video on social media, which appears to have since been deleted, saying “history [was] being made” with loyalist and nationalists marching together.
In another, he said: “When you be seeing tricolours and union jacks marching side-by-side with a common goal, walking together as opposed to tearing lumps out of each other?”Mark Malone, from the civil society organisation Hope for Courage Collective, suggested that, in some cases, this solidarity might be an example of alliances being formed by the far-right.
“There have always been attempts by very small numbers of people to try to make alliances across traditional sectarian divides, on the basis of white supremacy,” he said.
“However, in the context of the north itself, those alliances have never really lasted or gone anywhere.”The restaurant's owner, Sara Petko, said that staff members - some of whom were his classmates - thought he was a "loner" but that they were having trouble understanding how an otherwise quiet man turned to violence.
Another former classmate told ABC News he "shot terrible" and "wasn't really fit for the rifle team". The school district said there was no record of Crooks trying out for the team and he "never appeared on a roster".Jameson Myers, who graduated alongside Crooks in 2022, remembers him as seemingly a "normal boy" who was not particularly popular but never got picked on.
“He was a nice kid who never talked poorly of anyone and I never have thought him capable of anything I’ve seen him do in the last few days.”Max Smith, who took an American history course with Crooks, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his former classmate "definitely was conservative".