Syria Forces Kill 10 Protesters during Friday Demonstrations
Syrian security forces killed 10 people on Friday when they opened fire on protesters in several cities, Rami Abdul Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP by telephone.
"Ten demonstrators were killed today," said Rahman.
The toll included seven in Dael on the outskirts of Daraa, a flashpoint town in the south, a demonstrator in Saqba on the outskirts of Damascus a demonstrator in the al-Qadam neighborhood of Damascus and another on the outskirts of Aleppo.
"There were massive demonstrations in several Syrian cities despite a significant deployment of security forces," Rahman said, including a rally in Deir al-Zour, "the largest since military operations ended there in August."
Syrians also staged demonstrations in the northwestern province of Idlib, the central region of Homs, the coastal city of Latakia, and the capital Damascus, the Observatory said.
Pro-democracy activists called for nationwide demonstrations on Friday in support of "free soldiers" -- a reference to defectors -- after 36 people, including 25 soldiers, were killed in clashes across the country on Thursday.
Over 3,000 people have been killed in the unrest in Syria since popular protests broke out in mid-March, the U.N. human rights chief said Friday, urging international action to prevent civil war in the country.
"The number of people killed since the violence started in March has now exceeded 3,000, including at least 187 children. More than 100 people have been reported killed in the last 10 days alone," said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
The heavy death toll arose from the "sniping from rooftops and indiscriminate use of force against peaceful protestors," noted Pillay.
"The government of Syria has manifestly failed to protect its population," she said.
The international community should therefore step up to do so, urged the U.N. rights chief.
Meanwhile, 25 soldiers were among 36 people killed in violence in Syria on Thursday as the army met mounting armed resistance to its crackdown on dissent, a human rights group said.
Of the civilians killed, one died in the flashpoint central city of Homs while 10 were killed, one of them a child, in Banash, a town in Idlib province in the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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