Syrian forces fire on rally

AMMAN: Syrian forces fired at protesters calling for the "overthrow of the regime" in an eastern city on Friday residents said, and world leaders voiced outrage at President Bashar al-Assad's bloody crackdown on popular unrest.

Leaders at a Group of Eight meeting in France on Friday said they were "appalled" at the killing of peaceful protesters rights groups estimate at least 1,000 deaths over 10 weeks and demanded an immediate end to the use of force against them.

Damascus has ignored growing Western condemnation and sanctions, determined to crush the pro-democracy revolt by sending out security forces and tanks to subdue unrest it blames on armed groups who are backed by foreign powers.

Human rights activists said protests flared in the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Albu Kamal, where people burned pictures of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who this week threw his weight behind the authoritarian Assad.

Residents said security forces fired shots at protesters in Deir al-Zor. State television said "armed elements" opened fire on security troops in Deir al-Zor and five of them were wounded. There was no word of any casualties among protesters.

Witness reports of events are hard to verify independently because Assad's government has barred most foreign media from the country not long after the unrest erupted, emboldened by democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

The biggest demonstrations typically occur on Fridays after Muslim prayers, and they have also generally been the deadliest. Lately, protesters have taken to holding nightly demonstrations in an attempt to circumvent a heavy security presence.

Two witnesses said security forces fired live rounds on Thursday at hundreds of protesters in a night rally in Deraa. In the nearby town of Dael, residents said security forces shot dead three demonstrators on Thursday night.

Thousands of people in Dael and other cities across Syria stood on rooftops and balconies and chanted the Muslim rallying cry "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) until dawn on Friday in a show of defiance, activists and witnesses said.

"The chants mixed with the sounds of bullets," said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abu Hamed.

COPYRIGHT REUTERS, 2011