The Syrian community in Malta this afternoon joined their compatriots in Syria in spirit with a protest in Republic Street, Valletta in which they called on President Bashar Assad to step down.

"Now that Gaddafi's gone, it's your turn," they said.

Syrians poured into the streets of Syria today shouting that President Bashar Assad's regime will be the next to unravel now that Muammar Gaddafi is dead.

The Syrian uprising has proved resilient over the past seven months, but it has shown some signs of stalling in recent weeks as the government continues a bloody crackdown the UN estimates has killed more than 3,000 people.

The protesters in Malta, who were about 35, carried placards in English and Arabic.

They said they wanted European Union to realise that Syrians all over the world were protesting.

They said that while Libyans had arms, they did not and did not want to get to point where they had to use weapons. They said they would rather protest peacefully even though their government was shooting on its people.