1 of 2 | Protesters hold crosses and shout slogans during a demonstration in the Bab Touma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday. Photo By Hasan Belal/EPA-EFE
Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Protests in Christian neighborhoods of Syria's capital city erupted after a Christmas tree was set ablaze weeks after the downfall of the nation's longtime dictatorship, according to multiple reports.
The protests took place in Damascus Monday night after video footage on social media showed hooded figures setting fire to a tree at the intersection of a traffic circle in the majority-Christian town of Suqalabiyah, near the city of Hama in central Syria, the BBC reported.
The alleged perpetrators were identified as members of the Islamist group Ansar al-Tawhid, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human-rights monitoring organization.
Hundreds of protesters were seen in the streets amid a heightened fear in Syria's religious minority community over activity tied to religion following the overthrow of ex-Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham -- or HTS -- led the Islamist faction in the uprising that toppled the brutal, 50-year rule of the Assad regime about three weeks ago.
Footage depicted a rebel standing next to Christian priests vowing to punish the alleged perpetrators of the torched Christmas tree.
"Next morning you will see the tree completely restored," the unidentified rebel was heard saying, according to CNN.
It was reported that HTS officials later set up a new tree in the same spot, had it decorated and arrested those responsible for setting it on fire. Officials added that foreign fighters were detained in the incident.
The Middle Eastern nation is home to a number of religious groups. The Arab Sunnis comprise the majority of Syria's Muslim population, along with the Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Yazidi and Alawite Shia people.
However, HTS leaders have vowed to protect the rights and freedoms of Syria's ethnic minority groups.
Meanwhile, Syrian protesters marched on local Christian churches in the Bab Touma and Kassa neighborhoods.
According to NBC, crowds in Damascus chanted "Raise your cross, raise it!" and "We are with you to death, Suqalabiyah!"
It prompted renewed calls for the new Islamist authority to further protect Syria's diverse religious population.
While Christians were permitted to celebrate holiday rituals under Assad, they also faced a tyrannical limitation to political activities and freedom of speech.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's interim leader, reached an agreement with the country's other revolutionary factions in order to "dissolve all factions and merge them under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defense," Sana news agency reported.
The United States ended its $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa on Friday after top diplomats met in an act of goodwill to Syria's new governing coalition.