10 NOVEMBER 2007, Page 21

Protection from the people

Sir: As William Dalrymple implies in his perceptive article on Syria (Syria shouldn't be demonised', 27 October), democracy would be a disaster for minorities, especially Christians, who comprise 10 to 13 per cent of the population. If the Sunni Muslim majority won power, Christians and others would experience the same fate as their co-religionists elsewhere in the region. Democracy is not always the panacea we arrogantly suppose it to be.

Christopher Maycock Crediton, Devon