Protest held to mark second anniversary of Syrian uprising

(15 Mar 2013) 1. Wide of men marching and chanting, holding and anti-Assad banner 2. Close of banner showing Assad 3. Mid of men marching with anti-Assad banner 4. Various of women marching, chanting and holding banners 5. Close of man chanting into microphone 6. Mid of men chanting slogans 7. Mid of women chanting slogans 8. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) No name given, Syrian refugee: "We don't want Bashar Assad. Bashar Assad is killing us. He ruined our neighbourhood, he killed everyone in it. He killed children. He killed women. He destroyed all our mosques. There's nothing left. We want what is rightfully ours, our freedom." 9. Tilt up from baby to Ahmed Jouma, refugee from Syria and two daughters 10. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) Ahmed Jouma, refugee from Syria: "We didn't leave Syria because we wanted to. We were getting bombed all the time so we fled from one place to another and then we left, came here (to Turkey). My children were afraid, it was very difficult." 11. Various of boy hitting Assad banner with shoes 12. Mid of children holding posters, tilt down to poster of Assad on fire 13. Close of Assad's face on poster burning 14. Mid of children holding posters tilt down to poster of Assad on fire 15. Various of crowd chanting STORYLINE: Hundreds took to the streets of Istanbul on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising and to once again demand President Bashar Assad step down. After attending Friday prayers, some 900 men, women and children marched in downtown Fatih, one of Istanbul's religiously conservative neighbourhoods. Among the crowd were Syrians who fled their war-torn nation. One of them was a 40-year-old woman from Damascus who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals against her family still in Syria. She came to Turkey seven months ago and has learned to communicate in Turkish, she said. "We don't want Bashar Assad. Bashar Assad is killing us. He ruined our neighbourhood, he killed everyone in it," she said. Ahmed Jouma, also from Damascus, said he had no choice but to flee with his wife and nine children. "We were getting bombed all the time so we fled from one place to another and then we left, came here (to Turkey). My children were afraid, it was very difficult," said Jouma, who is Syrian of Turkmen origin and speaks a Turkish dialect. On Thursday, France's foreign minister said that France and Britain are ready to help arm Syrian rebel fighters even if other European Union countries disagree. The British government took a more cautious position, saying only that it is not ruling out any options to help the opposition. Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, warned on Wednesday that arming Syria's rebels would be a breach of international law. Moscow has been the main ally of Assad, shielding him from UN sanctions over the two-year conflict. The conflict, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of an estimated 70,000 people according to the UN and millions who have been displaced. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...