DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian forces allegedly shot dead nine protesters on Friday as hundreds of thousands took to the streets for fresh anti-government protests.
The Local Coordination Committee, a group of grassroots activists, said three were shot dead in Homs, another three in Idlib, two in Damascus and one in Latakia.
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. There were 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 northern Idlib province.
Thousands of Kurds marched in Amouda in the northeast carrying placards demanding, “Bashar, get out of our lives.”
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 proving to be the biggest challenge ever to the Assad family’s 40-year ruling dynasty.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she is “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.
Protesters have been demonstrating for 15 weeks against the president’s rule. He has now promised a national dialogue on political reforms.
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