Police besiege Daqaq mosque in Damascus to prevent protests , Al Arabiya reported.
The mass riots have begun in the Syrian city Dera'a from mid-March. The impetus for them was the arrest of a group of schoolchildren who had written the anti-government slogans on the walls. People appeared in the streets demanding to release the adolescents. The troops entered the city to suppress the anti-government protests. They used tanks and artillery to disperse mass demonstrations.
Even after the government announced the program of broad reforms in Syria, opposition members' protests continue. In particular, the state of emergency, introduced since 1963, was cancelled in the country. It was one of the main demands of the opposition.