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Twenty-four dead as fresh violence erupts in Syria, activists say

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian forces allegedly killed 24 protesters Friday as hundreds of thousands took to the streets for fresh anti-government protests.

The Local Coordination Committee, a group of grassroots activists, provided Sky News with what they say is a full list of the dead — which they named as martyrs — with locations where they died.

Many were reportedly killed in the Idlib province in the north, near to the Turkish border, where there appears to be a battle between Syrian tanks and opposition supporters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed another three people died overnight during a military operation to stop the flow of refugees into Turkey.

One of the largest rallies was in Hama, where some 200,000 people were said to be demonstrating in defiance of the security crackdown.

Footage has emerged of the protest there, which shows scenes reminiscent of Tahrir Square in Cairo during the protests there this spring.

There are reports that the army and police have completely pulled out of the city.

The protests are one of the largest outpourings against the regime of President Bashar al Assad since the uprising started three months ago.

They are being staged in the suburbs of Damascus, near the Lebanese border, in desert regions bordering Iraq and in Idlib province.

Thousands of Kurds marching in Amouda in the northeast carried placards demanding, “Bashar, get out of our lives,” according to a video.

In Hama and Kurdish eastern areas, demonstrators carried red cards to symbolize the “sending off” of the president.

Syrian rights groups claim more than 1,400 have been killed since mid-March, most of them unarmed protesters.

The regime disputes the toll, blaming “armed thugs” and foreign conspirators for the unrest that is the biggest ever challenge the Assad family’s 40-year ruling dynasty.

Earlier Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “disheartened” by the reports of continued violence and warned the regime was “running out of time.”

“They are either going to allow a serious political process that will include peaceful protests to take place throughout Syria and engage in a productive dialogue with members of the opposition and civil society, or they’re going to continue to see increasingly organized resistance,” she said.

Read more at Sky News