The 1936 Syrian general strike gave fresh momentum to that country's nationalist movement, which had been stalled since the 1933 suspension of parliament. When French Mandate

French Mandate of Syria

Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...

 authorities arrested prominent members of the National Bloc

National Bloc (Syria)

The National Bloc was a Syrian political party that emerged to fight for Syrian independence during the French Mandate of Syria period.The party was created after a national conference in 1928, by Ibrahim Hananu....

 and closed its offices in Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, demonstrations in that city, Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, Hama

Hama

Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria—behind Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs—with a population of 696,863...

, and Homs

Homs

Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...

 shattered a lull in anti-French activities on 20 January. Merchants then went on a strike that spread to all major towns, and demonstrations spread throughout the country. Confrontations between protesters and troops resulted in dozens of deaths. The League of National Action, a radical pan-Arab movement, organized protest marches in Damascus, the National Bloc demanded the restoration of the 1930 constitution before the strike would be called off. For five weeks commercial activity was frozen and students boycotted schools. Finally, on 2 March the French agreed to the formation of a Syrian delegation to travel to Paris to negotiate a Franco-Syrian Treaty

Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence (1936)

The Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was a treaty negotiated between France and Syria to provide for Syrian independence from French authority, which had been imposed under a League of Nations Mandate.- Explanation :...

. When French authorities released the nationalist leaders they had arrested, the Bloc ended the strike.