Syrian protests

Syrian security forces reportedly shot and killed at least 20 anti-government demonstrators and injured dozens more in nationwide protests, rights groups in Syria said Friday.

Hundreds of thousands had turned out in cities around the country to protest the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Demonstrators, who responded to calls by a Facebook group called The Syrian Revolution 2011, were also up in arms over what they labeled inaction by the international community over government repression in the country.

Responding to a call under the slogan "Your silence is killing us," the protesters emerged from mosques in most of the hotbed cities that have seen mass demonstrations over recent months.

"All countries condemned attacks in Norway, which left 90 people dead. In Syria, some 2,000 have been killed, but the Arab rulers and the Arab League remain silent," activists said in a Facebook message.

Security forces reportedly shot at mourners in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where at least 50,000 people turned out to honor four people killed there on Thursday. An estimated 300,000 attended the funerals of three of them, according to Sami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

One of the mourners was reported killed by the security forces' gunshot.

Meanwhile, in the western port city of Latakia, another young man was killed and several others injured by gunfire as government forces tried to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.

Another young male protester was killed at a rally in the flashpoint city of Daraa, while a fourth youth was shot at a checkpoint in the Damascus suburb of Kswer, Abdel Rahman said.

In Daraa, men under 50 were barred from entering mosques, and all worshippers were forbidden from taking in mobile phones with cameras.

Thousands in detention

In Qatana, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the capital Damascus, armed forces came in pickup trucks overnight Thursday to carry out arrests before searching for more protesters.

The sweep came as demonstrators took to the streets of Damascus and Qatana, gatherine in protest after security forces killed 11 people on Wednesday in Kanaker, 50 kilometres southwest of the capital, activists said.

The Avaaz human rights organization says 1,634 people have died in the crackdown and 26,000 have been arrested, of whom 12,617 are still in detention.

This week the group listed 2,918 people "who have been arrested by Syrian security forces and whose whereabouts are now unknown."

Syria has blamed the deaths on "armed terrorist groups" it accuses of wanting to spread chaos.

Authors: David Levitz, Darren Mara (AFP, dpa)

Editor: Matt Zuvela