Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said tens of thousands of people were protesting in Hama, the nation’s fourth-largest city, when “intense gunfire” erupted.“There are also scores of wounded and the death toll may rise,” Abdul-Rahman said.Syrian authorities have prevented most international media from operating, making it impossible to verify accounts of the violence.Three residents of Hama also told Reuters that the security forces and snipers fired at demonstrators gathered in the city center.
Abdul-Rahman said Friday’s protest was among the largest yet in the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime.Syrian rights group Sawasieh had earlier put the death toll in Hama at 10 and said scores of wounded were taken to a nearby hospital.Protests in Hama have a particular resonance, since the city was attacked in 1982 by Assad’s father, then President Hafez Assad, who crushed an armed Islamist uprising, killing up to 30,000 people and razing parts of the city to the ground.In a pattern seen every Friday since mid-March, protesters have marched out of mosques after noon prayers, to be met by security forces intent on crushing a revolt against Assad, in power in Syria for the last 11 years.Syrian forces also opened fire on demonstrations in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor and in Damascus’ Barzeh district.
Activists and residents said thousands of people marched in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Kurdish northeast, several Damascus suburbs, the cities of Homs and Hama and the towns of Madaya and Zabadani, in the west.In the southern city of Deraa, where protests first broke out 11 weeks ago, hundreds defied a military curfew and held protests, chanting “No dialogue with killers,” two residents in the city told Reuters.Analysts say protests continue to spread despite the military crackdown, but show no sign of reaching the scale needed to topple Assad’s rule. Rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed more than 1,000 civilians in the unrest, provoking international outrage at Assad’s ruthless handling of the demonstrators and leading Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to say Assad’s legitimacy “had nearly run out.”Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed groups, backed by Islamists and foreign powers, and say the groups have fired on civilians and security forces alike.Assad has responded to what is the most sustained and challenging rebellion against his rule by sending in tanks to crush demonstrations in certain flashpoints and by making some reformist gestures, such as issuing a general amnesty to political prisoners and launching national dialogue.
