More Than 70 Dead, Scores Hurt in Syria 'Good Friday' Demos
More than 70 people were killed by security forces during massive demonstrations on Friday across Syria, in one of the bloodiest days since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March, according to activists and human rights groups.
"The Syrian security forces committed massacres in several towns and regions today, so far killing 72 people and wounding hundreds," said the London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee in a statement received by Agence France Presse.
Several Syrian rights activists also published provisional lists recording the deaths of more than 70 people across the country on Friday.
Facebook page The Syrian Revolution 2011 also reported that at least 70 protesters were killed in the demos, identifying 60 victims in the following areas: "Ezreh (Ihsan al-Halqi, Anwar al-Obeid, Nizar Suleiman, Taher Hariri, Sufian Hariri, Sufian Suleiman, Adel al-Tawfiq, Ibrahim al-Qallab, Bilal al-Shouha, Hussein Diab, Abdul Ghaffar Shehadeh, Qassem Assaad, Mohammed al-Jarad, Mohammed Ziab)
"Hirak (Osama al-Hiraki), al-Maadamiyah (Abdul Menem Qarqoura, Mazen Qarqoura, Ahmed al-Sheikh, Suleiman Ibrahim, Ahmed al-Ghandour, Mahmoud Maatouq, Ahmed Maatouq, Diaa Hazzaa, Iyad Sawwan), Douma (Khaldoun al-Droubi, Mohammed al-Saour, Mohammed al-Deirawani, Salim al-Qallaa, Abdullah al-Qallaa, Baraza (Kamal Barakat)
"Al-Hajar al-Asswad (Mohammed al-Hamzat, Yaman al-Agha, Mohammed Raad, Mohammed al-Agha, Issa al-Bahtari), Zamalka (Wael Oryeti, Ahmed al-Mamlouk, Ezzeddine al-Naddaf, Ahmed Jebara, Mohammed al-Fattal), Harasta (Ali Darwish, Mohammed Dakhilallah, Khaled Hammad)
"Jobar (Omar al-Homsi), Homs (Fawwaz al-Haraki, Mutaz Rouba, Jaddou al-Omar, Ammar al-Salman, Ramez Anas, Sami Hasan, Mohammed al-Sheikh, Mohammed al-Kahil, Mahmoud al-Jouri, Abdul Rahman al-Qadi, Mohammed al-Mohammed, Radwan Lalou, Salem Bakkour, Alaa Orabi, a member of Harfoush family, a member of al-Tawil family."
Earlier, witnesses and activists reported at least 38 people killed in one of the bloodiest days since pro-democracy protests erupted in Syria in mid-March.
Dozens of people were also wounded when security forces opened fire with live rounds to disperse protesters who took to the streets in several cities in response to calls for "Good Friday" rallies, they said.
Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the Syrian National Human Rights Organization, spoke to AFP of "49 deaths and 20 people reported missing."
Rights activists and groups reported 15 killed at Ezreh in Daraa province south of the capital, hub of the anti-regime protests that erupted on March 15. They also reported 15 killed in the city of Homs in central Syria.
They said another 30 people were killed in areas near Damascus, and said the rest of the victims were killed in other towns.
The official SANA news agency spoke of "eight dead and 20 wounded including members of the security forces in an attack by armed criminals in Ezreh," and "two policemen killed and 11 wounded in Homs and Damascus by armed groups."
The protests come despite decrees on Thursday by President Bashar al-Assad scrapping nearly five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolishing state security courts that operated outside the normal judicial system to try people seen challenging the regime.
Source: Agence France Presse
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