Security forces tried to prevent more than 1,500 protesters in the Kurdish-majority north-east city of Hassake from protesting, firing teargas and arresting at least ten protesters, an activist in the city told Al Jazeera.

“There were rumours that the Kurds would not protest today because of disagreements with other opposition groups on the issue of naming a future Syria, the Syrian Arab Republic,” said the activist.

During last Sunday’s National Salvation Conference opposition meeting in Istanbul the Kurdish delegation walking out, insisting a future Syrian state be known only as the Syrian Republic, rather than having its Arab identity stressed, an issue extremely sensitive to ethnic Kurds who have long suffered marginalisation under Arab nationalist policies in Syria.

“The regime was betting on cracks emerging between Arabs and Kurds, but today’s demonstrations in the Kurdish areas prove that the Kurds still share the same united goals of the revolution,” said the activist.