Thousands defy Syria crackdown

Thousands have taken to the streets in funeral marches for protesters killed by police gunfire in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, witnesses say.

At least 15 people died in the clashes and an unconfirmed report put the toll at 34 dead.

Media access to the marches was restricted but an Associated Press reporter heard sporadic bursts of gunfire echoing through the city.

Almost all shops were shuttered, the streets were virtually empty and soldiers and anti-terrorism police stopped people at checkpoints and manned many intersections – the heaviest security presence since the unrest began.

An activist in contact with residents of Daraa said massive crowds shouted “Syria, freedom!” as they marched toward one of the agricultural hub’s main cemeteries.

Others in Daraa held a sit-in in the al-Mahata neighbourhood to protest at the killing of residents in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters, the activist said.

Inspired by the wave of pro-democracy protests around the region, the uprising in Daraa and at least four nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government, one of the most repressive in the Middle East.

Security forces have responded with water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

Syrian police launched a relentless assault on Wednesday on a neighbourhood sheltering anti-government protesters, shooting dead many in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said.

A resident of Daraa who was reached by phone from Damascus said witnesses there reported seeing at least 34 people killed.

He said at least 20 bodies were brought to Daraa National Hospital, and seven others taken to hospitals in neighbouring areas.

In the early evening, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Khirbet Ghazale and al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa but security forces opened fire and hit them with rifle butts as they approached. The resident said seven more were killed in that shooting. Hundreds were wounded, he said.

He asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

“It was a very difficult, bloody day,” he said. “There is a state of undeclared curfew in Daraa, whenever troops see four or five more people gathered they open fire.

“Daraa today is like a ghost town, we are very scared,” he said. “Everything is closed and the streets are empty, everywhere you look there’s security.”

Abdul-Karim Rihawi, who heads the Syrian Human Rights League, said authorities had begun a campaign of detentions against activists, writers and bloggers in different parts of Syria.

A statement posted today on the Facebook page “The Syrian Revolution 2011” held Syrian authorities led by President Bashar Assad responsible for the violence and called on the Syrian people to hold protests in all Syrian provinces on Friday, which it dubbed “Dignity Friday.”

An official at the Daraa National Hospital said the hospital received a large number of casualties on Wednesday and was “overwhelmed” with wounded people.

He said the hospital had not received any new casualties since Wednesday night and that Daraa was “very quiet this morning.”

Videos posted by activists on Youtube and Twitter showed dead and wounded people lying on a street in Daraa, as heavy gunfire crackled nearby and people shouted in panic.

The authenticity of the videos could not be independently confirmed.