* Syrian opposition sees hope in Tunisian overthrow
* Says shows chaos not only alternative to repression
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Opponents of Syria's autocratic leader said on Tuesday that the overthrow of dictatorship in Tunisia undermines claims by Arab governments that repression is the only alternative to either chaos or extreme Islamist rule.
"The uprising of the Tunisian people has proved that peaceful democratic change is possible, and that the line these dictatorial regimes peddle about chaos or fundamentalism does not wash," an opposition group, The Damascus Declaration, said in a statement, which was sent to Reuters.
It contrasted the limited bloodshed in Tunis and efforts to form a national unity government with the chaos that followed the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003 and the violent Islamist challenges which many Arab states, including Syria, highlight when justifying hardline security policies.
The Damascus Declaration is a rights movement named after a document signed in 2005 by Syrian opposition figures, including Riad al-Turk, who spent more than 17 years in solitary confinement under late President Hafez al-Assad, whose son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him a decade ago.
"The Tunisian uprising is an opportunity to break the barrier of fear overwhelming the peoples under repression," the group said. "The Syrian people deserve freedom just like Tunis.
"We are confident they'll march on the road to freedom and democracy."
The Damascus Declaration demands the lifting of bans on freedom of speech and assembly and the abolition of emergency law, under which Syria has been governed since 1963 when the ruling Baath Party took power and banned all opposition.
The movement includes liberals, Islamists and ethnic minority Kurdish political groups. Among its members is writer Akram al-Bunni, who was arrested in the 1980s during his final year in medical school and jailed for 17 years.
Bunni and 11 other figures in the Damascus Declaration were arrested in 2006 and sentenced to two and half years on charges of "for weakening national moral."
The weeks of protests over poverty and unemployment which forced Ben Ali out prompted speculation across the Arab world that other repressive governments might also face unrest.
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