Dubai: At least two people were killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on more than 50,000 people at the funeral of Kurdish opposition figure Mesha'al Tamo yesterday, reports said.
Several others were wounded in the shooting that came a day after nationwide rallies against President Bashar Al Assad, by the Syrian National Council (SNC), of which Tamo was a member.
The funeral for Tamo, who was gunned down in public in Qamishli in the north, turned into a mass rally with more than 50,000 demonstrators calling for fall of the Al Assad regime, the activists said.
Tamo founded the liberal Kurdish Future Party, which considers Kurds an integral part of Syria, and had been recently released after three and a half years in prison. His assassination also sparked indignation abroad.
In Austria, 11 opponents of the Al Assad regime were arrested overnight after they invaded the Syrian embassy in Vienna and demonstrated on the balcony. Five people were arrested at the Syrian embassy in London during a protest in which three men climbed onto the building.
Condemnation
The US said Al Assad's regime is escalating its tactics against the opposition with bold attacks on its leaders, while France said it was "shocked" by the news of the murder.
France condemned the regime's "brutal violence" in its crackdown on the opposition which, according to activists, left 16 people dead during rallies after the Friday prayers.
In Cairo, Syrian dissidents were to lobby for recognition of an opposition council in exile seeking the ouster of Al Assad.
The delegation planned to meet Egyptian activists and party representatives as 90 members of the SNC-led opposition met in Stockholm to draw strategy for their struggle against Al Assad regime.
