Paris, Berlin Condemn Syria Violence as Security Forces Disperse Students at Damascus University

Syrian students rallied in front of Damascus University on Monday in solidarity with protesters killed in the flashpoint towns of Daraa and Banias.

“Youngman Fadi al-Assmi was martyred at the hands of Syrian security forces during protests at Damascus University’s Faculty of Science,” Prominent Syrian human rights activist Suheir al-Atasi wrote on her facebook page.

For its part, Al-Arabiya satellite TV network said “one person was reportedly killed during the Damascus University protests.”

"Students rallied in solidarity with the victims of Daraa and Banias, chanting 'we will sacrifice our soul and blood for you martyrs,'" a human rights activists told Agence France Presse.

He was referring to the southern town of Daraa, a protest hub where rights groups say 26 people were killed Friday, and the northern coastal town of Banias, where a bloody weekend crackdown left four civilians dead, according to witnesses.

A YouTube video of the rally showed students chanting "Allah, Freedom and Syria, only," a recurring slogan of anti-regime protests demanding political reforms and more freedom.

They also chanted "One, one one ... the Syrian people are one," in an apparent bid to exorcise the ghost of sectarian strife raised by authorities as the death toll of protests rises.

Another group yelled slogans in support of President Bashar al-Assad, according to Abdul Karim Rihawi, president of the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

"Syrian security forces intervened and there were arrests," Rihawi said.

Political unrest erupted in Syria in mid-March but anti-government demonstrations, challenging Assad to introduce major reforms, have been largely confined to the provinces.

France on Monday called on the Syrian authorities to “immediately renounce the use of force ... and without delay to put in place a reform program that responds to the aspirations of the population," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

"Reform and repression are not compatible," she told reporters.

An unprecedented opposition movement erupted in Syria on March 15 challenging the regime of Assad, who has been in power since 2000, to introduce major political reforms.

Anti-regime demonstrations and clashes with security forces raged across the country on Friday leaving 28 dead, including 26 in the city of Daraa, according to a toll compiled by six Syrian rights groups.

On Monday, Syrian troops encircled the flashpoint coastal town of Banias, where weekend shootings left 13 dead and scores wounded, a human rights activist said.

For its part, the German government on Monday slammed "shocking" deadly crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators in Syria and called on Damascus to stop "grave human rights violations.”

"The ongoing violence against protesters (in Syria) is alarming and shocking," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news briefing in a strongly worded statement on behalf of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He said the flashpoints of violence in recent days "represented grave human rights violations by the Syrian government and its security forces."

"The German government condemns the fact that peaceful demonstrations in Syria are being broken up violently and that, primarily in Daraa, demonstrators have been shot and killed or severely wounded," he said.

"The chancellor wishes to express her deepest sympathies to the families of those killed and, on the political level, she calls on the Syrian government and President Assad personally to protect the right to peaceful expression and peaceful demonstrations."

Seibert said Damascus had repeatedly heralded plans to advance "political reforms and greater freedom".

"Now would truly be the time to turn those words into action," he said.

"We also call on the Syrian government to bring to justice those among the security forces who are responsible for the deadly shots against peaceful demonstrators."