Syria’s Friday protests turn deadly

Syrian security forces shot dead at least six people on Friday as they opened fire to disperse protesters urging countries to expel Syria's ambassadors, activists said.

Meanwhile SANA, the state news agency, quoted an official source as saying two members of the security forces were killed and an officer was critically wounded in a bomb blast in the restive central city of Hama.

The latest bloodletting comes on the eve of a deadline by the Arab League for Syria to stop the lethal crackdown on protesters seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, or face new sanctions.

Three people were killed in the Damascus countryside, while one was shot in the central protest city of Homs and another in the restive city of Hama, also in the center of the protest-wracked country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

A 14-year-old boy was shot dead in the southern town of Daraa, cradle of the uprising against Assad's autocratic regime, said the Britain-based Observatory.

More than 20 people were shot and wounded in Homs, in the Damascus suburb of Harasta and in Maarat an-Naaman in the northwestern province of Edleb, the Observatory and the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) reported.

Activists reported massive deployments of security forces in several parts of the country and said they had surrounded mosques to prevent worshippers from spilling onto the streets after the weekly Muslim prayers to join protests.

They opened fire as several rallies got under way in defiance of the authorities, in Homs, Daraa and in several areas of the eastern province of Deir az-Zour, they said.

In the Edleb town of Al-Tah, protesters flooded the streets calling for the fall of the regime and chanting: "Freedom forever, like it or not Assad."

The Observatory also reported that 16 people were arrested in raids by security forces in Maarat an-Naaman.

Activists had called for massive protests on Friday to press countries to expel Syrian ambassadors, to further isolate Damascus which is faced with Western and Arab sanctions.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Sub.aspx?ID=125478

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