Hundreds of police and militiamen loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad have used batons to attack thousands of protesters in the country's mainly Kurdish city of Qamishli.
Police fired teargas to disperse protesters, injuring several people, in the first major crackdown on Kurdish demonstrators reported since the start of the four-month uprising against Assad's rule.
The protesters shouted slogans calling for political freedoms and demanding an end to discrimination against Syria's Kurdish minority.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Syria after Friday prayers, protesting against President Bashar al-Assad and defying an intensified military crackdown on their uprising.
Demonstrations demanding an end to Assad's rule have broken out in the Medan district of Damascus, the besieged city of Homs, Latakia on the coast, the southern city of Deraa and the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, on the border with Iraq's Sunni heartland, activists said.
Hundreds marched in the southern town of Suweida, and demonstrations also took place in the northwestern province of Idlib, particularly in Tastanas and Kafar Nubol.
In Damascus, meanwhile, Rihawi said security forces have been deployed in the Qabun and Rukneddin quarters and had set up checkpoints at their entrances.
