Injured photographer's Syria regret (From Malvern Gazette)

Injured photographer's Syria regret

5:09pm Saturday 17th March 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

A war photographer injured in Syria has told protesters outside the country's embassy in London that he was sorry for the world's slow response to President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown.

Paul Conroy was badly injured and his Sunday Times reporter colleague Marie Colvin killed in shelling in Baba Amr, in Homs.

He was smuggled out by rebels.

On Saturday, struggling on a crutch and being pushed in a wheelchair, Mr Conroy was embraced time and again by supporters.

Mr Conroy, from Anfield, Liverpool, but who now lives in Devon, told the crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators that Britain should sever ties with the Syrian regime and expel its embassy representatives, who he said should "stand in The Hague and answer for the crimes they have committed".

He added: "They are murderers and butchers and should be expelled from the country."

Paying tribute to the thousands slaughtered in Syria over the last year, Mr Conroy said he hoped soon "the world will recognise the crimes that have been committed".

The journalist was speaking to one group of anti-Assad demonstrators while another demonstration in favour of the president took place a hundred metres away also in Belgrave Square.

Police were patrolling in strength to ensure the rival groups remained apart and contained in their respective metal-barriered pens.

The pro-Assad camp was heavily outnumbered with approximately only 120 demonstrators.