Syrian forces have killed at least 23 protesters as tens of thousands swarmed the streets after Friday prayers, a day after President Bashar al-Assad pledged that assaults on civilians had ended.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people were killed in the southern province of Daraa, epicentre of the anti-regime protests that erupted 15 March.
A police officer and a civilian were killed in Ghabagheb. Six members of the security forces were wounded in that attack.
Six others were killed in the central city of Homs and one in the Harasta suburb of Damascus.
Around 20,000 were on the streets of Al-Khalidiyeh demanding the ouster of Assad, said the Observatory, which also reported rallies in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor, and in the northern cities of Latakia and Banias.
Some 10,000 people marched in the Kurdish-populated cities of Qamishli and Amuda, according to an activist at the scene, while other protests took place in and around Damascus and in Hama in central Syria.
Security forces opened fire and conducted arrests to prevent protests from spilling into streets in Damascus neighbourhoods.
Today's rallies put to the test a commitment given by Assad to UN chief Ban Ki-moon the previous day that his security forces have ended operations against civilians.
Russia and Turkey have dismissed growing calls led by US President Barack Obama for Assad to quit, offering the embattled Syrian leader rare support despite a damning UN report on his 'apparent shoot to kill' policy.
A European Union diplomat has claimed that the EU has been preparing sanctions against Syria's key oil sector
