Damascus/Amman: Syrian security forces shot dead at least 34 people, including a child, yesterday during pro-democracy protests which broke out across the country in defiance of a military crackdown which has killed hundreds of people, a rights groups said.
The child and eight other people were killed in the central city of Homs while seven people died in the town of Maaret Al Naaman, near the western city of Idlib, activists said.
Several activists reported demonstrations across Syria, from Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast to Qamishli in the Kurdish east, one day after the US told President Bashar Al Assad to reform or step down. Two people were killed in the region of Dara’a, epicentre of protests that have gripped Syria since March 15, one died in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, and one in the coastal town of Latakia, activists said.
Some protesters were calling for freedom, they said, while others called for ‘the overthrow of the regime’, the slogan of Arab uprisings which have toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
Syria has barred most international media since the protests broke out two months ago, making it impossible to verify independently accounts from activists and officials.
Police car burnt
Amateur video uploaded by activists, who said it was filmed in Homs, showed scores of marchers scattering as gunfire erupted. A police car was left burning in the street. A protester said a demonstration was held outside a mosque in central Damascus but it was quickly dispersed by the security forces. In Ain Arab, a mainly Kurdish region near the northern city of Aleppo, hundreds took to the streets.
