27 killed, 120 wounded in Syria protests, activists say

Jul 15, 2011, 17:30 GMT

Cairo/Damascus/Beirut - At least 27 people were killed across Syria on Friday and more than 120 were wounded when security forces opened fired at anti-government protesters, according to Syrian activists.

Nine people died in Damascus - six in Qaboun and three in Roken Eddine, said an activist based at the Syrian-Lebanese border.

He said seven others were killed in the province of Idlib near the border with Turkey and two in the southern city of Daraa.

Most of the wounded were in Duma, 15 kilometres from the Syrian capital, said the activist.

More than 1 million Syrians participated on Friday in protests across the country, said the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. But the figure could not be independently verified.

The day was dubbed the 'Friday of Freedom Prisoners,' in honour of those jailed during the months of protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Footage posted online by opposition activists showed mass protests in the central cities of Homs and Hama and in Idlib.

A Syrian activist told the German Press Agency dpa: 'In Idlib the sky was raining bullets on the protesters from security forces who took positions in rooftops and started shooting at the protesters.

'Security forces backed by tanks are all over the streets in Idlib. They are trying to prevent the massive crowd from gathering and protesting.'

He said massive arrests were being made in areas around Damascus, where an estimated 30,000 anti-regime protesters gathered in Al-Qaboun and Al-Midan.

State-run Syrian TV said gunmen had opened fire at demonstrators and security forces, killing a civilian in Idlib. Another civilian was killed in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun while a police officer was killed in Homs.

Eight policemen were wounded in Homs as well, according to the TV report.

More than 1,400 people have been killed by security forces in the unprecedented protests since mid-March, human rights groups say.

But the government has disputed the figure and blamed 'armed thugs' and foreign conspirators for the unrest.

The reports are difficult to verify because the Syrian authorities have banned most foreign media and international human rights groups from entering the country.