Syrian troops fire at protesters

Troops have opened fire on protesters in cities across Syria and pro and anti-government crowds clashed in the capital’s historic old city as one of the Middle East’s most repressive regimes sought to put down demonstrations that exploded nationwide demanding reform.

The upheaval sweeping the region definitively took root in Syria as an eight-day uprising centred on a rural southern town dramatically expanded into protests by tens of thousands in multiple cities. The once-unimaginable scenario posed the biggest challenge in decades to Syria’s iron-fisted rule.