Syrian forces fire on protesters killing 11: activists

NICOSIA: Syrian security forces opened fire on Friday on anti-regime rallies killing at least 11 protesters, three of them in the capital Damascus, human rights activists said.

The violence came as thousands of protesters took to the streets across Syria after the weekly Muslim prayers calling for the fall of the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The demonstrations were in response to a call by the Facebook group Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the motors of the protests, under the banner, "Fall of legitimacy."

"Security forces tried to break up a rally calling for the fall of the regime with tear gas before opening fire" killing three people and injuring 25 others, an activist in the Damascus neighbourhood of Barzeh said, reached by telephone.

They also opened fire on demonstrators in the town of Kiswah south of Damascus, killing at least five people, another activist told AFP.

"Demonstrators left the mosque after Friday prayers and marched for a few minutes until security forces opened fire to disperse them, killing five people and wounding six others," rights activist Mohammad Enad Suleiman said.

Three people were also killed in the central city of Homs and 20 others wounded when security forces opened fire on the crowd of protesters, an activist at the scene told AFP.

Syria's state television blamed the civilians deaths in Barzeh on "armed men" who it said also opened fire on security forces, wounding several of them including an officer.

The state broadcaster added that a police officer was also killed by gunfire in the Damascus suburb of Kadam.

Fridays have been a focal point for protesters since the start of pro-democracy demonstrations in mid-March, with Syrians taking to the streets on the weekly day of rest after midday Muslim prayers.

Syrian rights groups say that more than 1,300 people have been killed and while 10,000 have been arrested in the regime's brutal crackdown against dissent since the protests -- now in their fourth month -- erupted.

The Facebook page said Friday's protests should send a strong message to Assad that he and his regime are no longer legitimate and must go.

"Bashar is no longer my president and his government no longer represents me," it said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011