Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets of the city of Deraa on Sunday in protest at the erection of a statue of President Bashar al-Assad’s father, in one of the largest anti-regime marches outside of opposition areas since the start of the war.

The large bronze statue of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled over Syria with an iron grip for more than three decades until his death in 2000, was placed in the same spot the one before it had been torn down in 2011.

Footage online showed people chanting “Syria is ours, not for the House of Assad” and “Your statue is from the past, it’s not welcome here.”

One placard read: "The country has been destroyed and, instead of reconstruction, we place memorials.”