Eight people were killed and 30 injured Wednesday by Syrian security forces near Damascus, according to activists, dpa reported.
They said that the deaths included an 11-year-old boy during a clampdown mounted in the town of Kankar near the Syrian capital.
The head of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights, Mahmoud Marae, told the broadcaster Al Jazeera that the security forces had stormed the town early Wednesday and rounded up 300 anti-government protesters.
Meanwhile, the opposition group the Union of the Syrian Revolution Coordination Committees said that hundreds of people protested overnight against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in the commercial part of Damascus.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since pro-democracy protests began in Syria in mid-March.
These reports are hard to verify as the Syrian authorities have barred most foreign media and international human rights groups from the country.