VOA News, April 22, 2011 – The toll would make Friday the deadliest single day of protests in the country since the anti-government uprising began in March.
Listen to what VOA’s Cecily Hilleary and Steve Bangley discovered after talking to Syrian eyewitnesses on the ground involved in the protests in several cities:
Witnesses and activists say security forces used live ammunition and tear gas on protesters, who poured onto the streets after Friday prayers and called for President Bashar al-Assad’s immediate departure. 

The deaths were reported in areas including the southern Daraa region, the central city of Homs and communities near the capital, Damascus.

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the latest use of force and said the Syrian government’s “outrageous’’ use of violence against the protesters must “end now.’’