Syria: ’30 killed’ in latest violence
Campaigners say 30 people have been killed in Syria after security forces fired on protesters. The latest deaths have fuelled fresh calls for independent investigators to be allowed into Syria.
Syria has barred most international media since protests broke out two months ago, making it impossible to verify accounts from activists and officials.
The UN says up to 850 people may have been killed during the violence.
Campaigners say security forces shot dead 30 demonstrators on Friday during protests which broke out across the country.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director, Rami Abdelrahman, said many of the killings occurred in the central city of Homs and in the town of Maaret al-Numan to the northwest.
“The killings have to stop. Independent investigators must be allowed in the country,” he said.
Activists said there were demonstrations across Syria, from Banias on the Mediterranean coast to Qamishli in the Kurdish east, one day after the United States told President Bashar al-Assad to reform or step down.
Some protesters were calling for freedom, they said, while others called for “the overthrow of the regime”, the slogan of Arab uprisings which have toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
Lawyer Razan Zaitouna said at least 11 people were killed in the central city of Homs. Amateur video uploaded by activists, who said it was filmed in Homs, showed scores of marchers scattering as gunfire erupted. A police car was left burning in the street.
Zaitouna said two other people were killed in the town of Sanamin, south of the capital, and in the Barzeh district of Damascus. Tanks entered the town of Maaret al-Numan, south of Syria’s second city Aleppo, where 12 were killed she added.
The United States, which has condemned the crackdown as barbaric, imposed targeted sanctions against Assad this week and President Barack Obama said on Thursday Syria must move away from “the path of murder and mass arrest”.
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“The Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy,” Obama said. “President Assad now has a choice: He can lead that transition or get out of the way”.
Despite strong words from the White House, the West has so far taken only small steps to isolate Assad when compared to its bombing campaign against Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi, also accused of killing protesters.
