US News

Anti-regime protests expand to Syria

Thousands of mourners at the funeral of Syrian protesters killed by security forces yesterday called for revolution in one of the boldest challenges to the country’s dictators since uprisings began sweeping the Arab world.

Security forces responded by firing tear gas to disperse crowds in the southern city of Deraa, where at least 10,000 people demonstrated at the funeral of two protesters.

Police killed at least five activists during demonstrations on Friday that were not reported outside Syria until yesterday.

“Revolution, revolution. Rise up, Hauran,” the mourners chanted, referring to a Syrian region.

“God, Syria, Freedom. Whoever kills his own people is a traitor,” they said.

Police sealed off the city to prevent the unrest from spreading. Residents were allowed to leave but not enter the city, said Syrian activist Mazen Darwish.

President Bashar Assad has boasted that his country will not be swept up in the pro-democracy movement that has toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

Serious disturbances in Syria would be a major expansion of the region’s unrest. Syria has a history of brutally crushing dissent.

In Egypt, meanwhile, an angry mob of Islamists hurled stones and shoes at Mohamed ElBaradei, a presidential candidate and Nobel laureate, during a key vote in the country yesterday.

“We don’t want you,” shouted the group of 60, many of them teens, forcing the former UN nuclear watchdog chief to flee to his car without casting a ballot.

And in Yemen, medics raised the death toll from a sniper attack on protesters to 52 as thousands continued to rally against the country’s autocratic regime.

Crowds of thousands clashed with security forces and even seized control of one southern city. Police fought back by firing live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters.

If their hold lasts, it would be the first city where protesters have gained control over security forces in Yemen.

Also yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Bahraini authorities against using force on anti-government protests as opposition in the kingdom grows.