At least 11 people were killed across Syria as protesters called for the end of the regime run by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, BBC Arabic reported. Syrian forces shot dead three people in the Damascus district of Barzeh on Saturday at a mass funeral of pro-democracy protesters killed a day earlier, a local human rights campaigner said.
Witnesses said mourners were chanting "People want the fall of the regime" and "Bashar, you coward, take your soldiers to Golan," in reference to the Golan Heights where the frontier with Israel has been quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.
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violenceWitnesses in Douma also said that security opened fire at a funeral procession, killing at least four people.
According to the witnesses, over 50,000 people were participating in the
mass funeral in the Douma suburb when security forces began shooting.
"I saw three people falling on the ground, one of them had blood gushing
from his mouth. I could not tell whether he was hit in the stomach or
the chest," one of the witnesses said.
A second witness said pall bearers abandoned coffins they were carrying and ran for cover when the funeral came under fire.
In another funeral near the town of Izra'a in southern Syria, two
witnesses said at least three people were killed when security forces
opened fire.
They said hundreds of mourners, dispersed by live ammunition outside
Izra'a, were shot at when they approached a checkpoint at the Sheikh
Maskeen road juncture as they headed back to the southern border city of
Deraa.
Earlier Saturday, tens of thousands of chanting Syrians demanded the
"overthrow of the regime" during the funerals for scores of people
killed by security forces in the country's bloodiest pro-democracy
protests, witnesses said.
Funerals were held in Damascus and at least one of its suburbs and in
the southern village of Izra'a, where mourners also chanted "[Syrian
President] Bashar Assad, you traitor. Long live Syria, down with
Bashar."
A group of activists coordinating the demonstrations said regular forces
and gunman loyal to Assad shot dead at least 88 civilians on Friday.
Rights groups had earlier put the death toll at a minimum of 70.
Friday's violence brings the death toll to about 300, according to
rights activists, since the unrest which broke out on March 18 in the
southern city of Deraa.
Protests swept the country on Friday, from the Mediterranean city of
Banias to the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In Damascus,
security forces fired teargas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the
district of Midan.
Syrian television said eight people were killed and 28 wounded,
including army personnel, in attacks by armed groups in Izra'a. It said
an armed group had attacked a military base in the Damascus suburb of
Muadhamiya.
The Local Coordination Committees activist group sent Reuters a list
with names of 88 people classified by region. The group said they were
killed in areas stretching from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama,
Damascus and the southern village of Izra'a.
UN, US, France condemn violence against demonstrators
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned violence against
Syrian citizens by authorities and called for a "transparent and
independent" inquiry into the death of the protesters.
“The secretary-general condemns the ongoing violence against peaceful
demonstrators in Syria, and calls for it to stop immediately,” said UN
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
US President Barack Obama condemned Friday's violence and accused Assad of
seeking help from Iran.
"This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end
now," Obama said in a statement. "Instead of listening to their own
people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian
assistance in repressing Syria's citizens...."
France's Foreign Ministry said Paris was "deeply concerned".
"Syrian authorities must give up the use of violence against their
citizens. We again call on them to commit without delay to an inclusive
political dialogue and to achieve the reforms legitimately demanded by
the Syrian people."
Those killed were among tens of thousands of people who have taken to
the streets of cities and rural areas across Syria calling for the
overthrow of the regime, demands which have hardened over recent weeks.
Friday's protests went ahead despite Assad's decision this week to lift
the country's hated emergency law, in place since his Baath Party seized
power 48 years ago.
A statement by the Local Coordination Committees said the end of
emergency law was futile without the release of thousands of political
prisoners -- most held without trial -- and the dismantling of the
security apparatus.
In their first joint statement since the protests erupted last month,
the activists said the abolition of the Baath Party's monopoly on power
and the establishment of a democratic political system was central to
ending repression in Syria.
Amnesty International said Syrian authorities "have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons".
"They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and
instead allow Syrians to gather freely as international law demands,"
said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa
director.