A state-run newspaper in Syria says the European Union's ban on oil imports from the country was a sign that Europe is trying to regain its colonial past.

The EU announced Friday it was banning oil imports from Syria to protest the government's deadly crackdown on a 5-month-old anti-government uprising. The sanctions will cost the embattled regime millions of dollars a day.

The Al-Thawra newspaper lashed out at the sanctions Sunday.

The paper said Europe is working to "regain the past glory of its nasty, abominable colonization."

The U.N. estimates some 2,200 people have been killed since March as demonstrators take to the streets every week to protest the autocratic regime. But President Bashar Assad blames the unrest on thugs, not true reform-seekers.