AFP, Beirut, 17 Feb 2012 – Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Syrian cities and towns on Friday, calling for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a monitoring group said.
The protesters emerged from mosques after the main weekly Muslim prayers, in line with a call by Internet-based activists for a rally for a ‘new phase of popular resistance.’
In the capital, five civilians were wounded, one critically, when they were fired on at a demonstration in Mazze neighbourhood, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In Damascus province, villagers protested despite a massive security presence, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
The capital has been relatively spared the violence of the 11-month protest movement that triggered a brutal crackdown in which more than 6,000 people have been killed across Syria, according to rights groups.
At least 10,000 people demonstrated in the southern town of Dael, in the province of Daraa, cradle of the revolt inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, said the Observatory.
Other rallies were staged in the towns of Jasem, Inkhel, and Nimr al-Hara, where security forces wounded some demonstrators when they opened fire on them.
A protest was also held in Maaret al-Numan, a town in the northwestern province of Idlib, it added.
Activists are calling on Syrians to protest for a ‘new phase of popular resistance’ to confront the regime’s assault on besieged protest cities such as Hama, Homs and Daraa.
Since they erupted in mid-March last year, the protests have been largest on Fridays.