« Vendredi des femmes syriennes libres » : quatre morts – 13 mai 2011

4 killed as protesters, security forces clash in Syria

Cnn

By the CNN Wire Staff

May 13, 2011 — (CNN) — Four people were killed in violent clashes between protesters and security forces in several Syrian cities on Friday, a human rights advocate said.

According to Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, three were killed by gunfire from security forces during those clashes.

The fighting, Qurabi said in a statement, also prevented many people from attending Friday prayers because mosques were surrounded by tanks.

Protesters have taken to the streets every Friday recently after the weekly Muslim prayers, and security forces were deployed in force to greet the turnouts. A U.N. official says that as many as 850 people may have died since protests began in mid-March, but there were no immediate reports of casualties on Friday.

Activists have labeled this « the Friday of Free Syrian Women, » a commemoration of those women rallying for freedom and a remembrance of those who have been slain.

(…) In Hama, thousands of demonstrators rallied for the end of the Bashar al-Assad regime and chanted anti-government slogans, two witnesses said.

Security forces responded by firing tear gas at the crowds while the protesters threw stones at the forces.

One of the witnesses said demonstrators tore down a large picture of al-Assad on a government building, and security forces beat protesters with sticks.

The Baathist government of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s late father who once ruled Syria, crushed a revolt in Hama decades ago against the Sunnis, who are the majority religious group in Syria.

Estimates put that death toll between 10,000 and 30,000 people, though the exact number was never known.Read more…