PSP-Led Protesters Urge End to Aleppo 'Genocide' in Beirut Rally

Dozens of citizens, activists and members of political parties staged a sit-in at the Samir Qassir garden in downtown Beirut on Tuesday to condemn the bloodshed in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

The sit-in was organized by the Progressive Youth Organization, the youth arm of MP Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party.

Describing the fierce bombardment of Aleppo's rebel-held neighborhoods by Syrian and Russian warplanes as a "genocide," participants carried banners asking “Who Will Save Aleppo's Children from Vampires?” and “Is The International Community Seeing What's Happening in Aleppo?”

The protesters also condemned the Arab and global “silence” over the carnage in Syria.

“Over 30,000 people have been martyred due to (Syrian President) Bashar (Assad's) barrel bombs and more than 300 journalists have been killed by indiscriminate and barbaric shelling,” PYO member Lama Aridi said in a speech at the sit-in.

“More than 550,000 people have fled and only 40,000 residents remain in the city... Only 30 doctors are treating thousands of wounded people,” she added.

The organization held the world's governments responsible for “what is happening in Aleppo and for this genocide that is being committed by the biggest butcher of this century.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the U.N. rights chief called for action to halt the "ghastly avalanche of violence" unfolding in Aleppo, which is reeling from some of the most brutal fighting in the five-year conflict.

The Syrian army announced a major Russian-backed military push nearly two weeks ago to capture the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo, once the country's commercial hub.

On Monday, the largest hospital in the rebel-held side of Aleppo was completely destroyed in an aerial attack, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports the facility.

Only five hospitals remain operational for the estimated 250,000 people living under a crippling government siege in east Aleppo.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict erupted in March 2011, and the latest attempt at securing a diplomatic solution to the war has fallen apart.