Damascus , Syria ( CNN ) -- Syria 's embattled government allowed about 200 activists and intellectuals , including some it had previously jailed , to hold a conference on democratic reform Monday at a Damascus hotel . `` We must change this tyrannical regime to a democratic , civilian one , '' Louay Hussein , a writer and one-time political prisoner , said . `` How that transition happens is a question this conference is trying to address . '' Hussein said the conference would `` not necessarily '' find an answer to that question , `` But that is the big question in this country now . '' About 200 Syrian dissidents gathered in the hotel ballroom , including several signatories of a 2005 declaration that called for a democratic transition . But some of those who have been risking arrest or bodily harm as President Bashar al-Assad tries to suppress a wave of anti-government protests say the people in the hotel do n't necessarily speak for them . `` The big question regarding this conference is , where are the young people ? '' asked Wissam Tarif , a pro-democracy activist based outside Syria . `` Where are the people who are on the streets ? Where are the voices of the people who are from Daraa , or from Douma , or from Jisr al-Shugur , or from Idlib ? I think those are the voices that have been missed so far . '' Tarif is executive director of the Spain-based human rights group Insan , which says more than 630 people have been killed and 8,000 jailed in the clampdown . Other human rights activists have put the death toll at more than 1,100 . For its part , a Syrian military spokesman said Sunday that more than 400 police officers and government troops and police have been killed battling `` armed gangs . '' CNN can not independently verify either claim . But Maan Abdul Salam , one of the activists who gathered in Damascus , said , `` I think it 's time for us to say our political statement . `` There is the statement coming from the street , there is the statement coming from the authorities and there is the statement coming from everywhere outside the country , '' he said . `` It 's time for this group to say what they think and find solutions . '' And Hussein said the street protests are needed to `` put pressure on the state to stop its dominance over society . '' If that does n't happen , he said , `` Then we are definitely at risk of going back to jail -- and for a very long time . '' In Washington , White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday 's conference was `` a worthwhile step , '' but told reporters that `` the violence has to stop . '' `` For it to be truly significant , it has to be part of a cessation of violence against the Syrian people . It has to be part of an embrace of the idea that they need to have a national dialogue about their future , and that that transition needs to take place with the regime leading it or getting out of the way . '' The al-Assad family has ruled Syria since 1971 , with Bashar al-Assad taking power after his father 's death in 2000 . He held out a promise of reforms and a `` national dialogue '' in a speech last week that was met with widespread skepticism . Hussein said he expected the government to try to exploit Monday 's conference and hold out those who attended as `` the reasonable ones . '' But he added , `` We will always try to defend the street , because it is also a reasonable , right and peaceful street that always protests peacefully . '' CNN 's Hala Gorani and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report .
Dissidents meet unmolested in Damascus hotel amid clampdown . `` We must change this tyrannical regime , '' a former political prisoner says . Other activists say the Syrian street was n't represented . White House calls event `` a worthwhile step '' but says violence has to stop .