Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 34 people, including a child, as pro-democracy protests swept the country.
Despite the violence, demonstrators pressing on with calls for more freedom in defiance of a fierce crackdown.
The child was among 12 people killed in the central city of Homs. Another 15 died in the town of Maaret al-Naaman, located near the western city of Idlib, democracy activists said.
Security forces were also said to have killed two people in the southern region of Daraa, epicentre of protests that have gripped Syria since 15 March; one in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, another in the port city of Latakia, two in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor and one in the central town of Hama. Dozens were wounded.
‘The victims in Maaret al-Naaman were gunned down at the entrance of the city where many people were converging from other nearby towns to join the protest,’ an activist said.
State television blamed the violence on armed gangs which, it said, had opened fire on civilians and security forces in the region of Idlib and on the outskirts of Homs, resulting in unspecified casualties.
Protests were also reported in several other towns across Syria.
An activist said a demonstration was held outside a mosque in central Damascus but that security forces quickly dispersed it.
Another activist in Homs said security services stormed a local hospital and carried away several wounded people along with the body of a victim.
The accounts could not be independently verified as foreign journalists are prevented from travelling in the country to report on protests challenging the authoritarian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Crucially, both Damascus and Aleppo have so far been largely spared the unrest and it is widely believed that should massive demonstrations begin there that would mark a serious setback for the regime.
In a keynote Thursday speech on the Middle East, US President Barack Obama urged Assad to lead a political transition or ‘get out.’
‘President Assad now has a choice,’ Mr Obama said. ‘He can lead that transition or get out of the way.’
Damascus defiantly rejected the warning.
The UN refugee agency said that some 1,400 Syrians had fled into neighbouring Lebanon last week to escape the violence.
