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Security fires on protesters across Syria

Arab World Materials 19 August 2011 16:07 (UTC +04:00)
Syrian security forces fired live ammunition and used force to disperse anti-government protesters in different cities on Friday, activists said.
Security fires on protesters across Syria

Syrian security forces fired live ammunition and used force to disperse anti-government protesters in different cities on Friday, activists said, DPA reported.

In an attempt to disperse over 10,000 protesters gathering in central Jebyleh town, in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, security forces fired at demonstrators as they were leaving mosque after the Friday weekly prayers, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

In the coastal city of Latakia, activists said that men younger than 55 years old were prevented from attending prayers in the mosque.

Pro-government thugs, known as Shabiha, attacked a group of protesters shortly after they left the Fatahi mosque in the Mediterranean port city.

Troops were heavily deployed near mosques in the Qaboon area, in Damascus, as security vehicles were patrolling to prevent protests.

In the Damascus al-Qadm area, heavy gunfire was heard, activists said, with no information about death toll yet.

Seven military buses, backed up security vehicles, entered the Damascus Suburb, Daraya, and began setting up security barricades.

Around 20,000 protesters took to the streets in the Khaldiya area, in the central city of Homs, chanting for toppling the regime, the Syrian Observatory reported.

Dubbing the protests the "Friday of Signs of Victory," activists said that victory looms from restive areas that have recently been the target of the army's attacks.

At least 1,855 civilians and 422 security personnel have been killed since protests, calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, started in Syria in mid-March, according to human rights advocates.

It is hard to verify these reports, as the Syrian authorities have barred most foreign media and international human rights from the country.

Syrian security forces raided areas in the southern dissident city of Daraa and rounded up an unspecified number of anti-government protesters late Thursday, activists said.

The United States and the European Union called Thursday for al-Assad to step down, citing the brutal crackdown on his own people and saying he had lost his legitimacy to lead the country.

Later, the Syrian delegate to the United Nations Bashar al-Jafaari accused the US and other countries at the UN Security Council of waging a "diplomatic war" against his country.

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