Thousands called for liberty Thursday in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, defying a deadly government crackdown as they took to the streets in funeral marches for protesters killed by police gunfire, an activist said.
Media access to the marches was restricted but an Associated Press reporter heard sporadic bursts of gunfire echoing through the city in the afternoon. Almost all shops were shuttered, the streets were virtually empty and soldiers and anti-terrorism police stopped people at checkpoints and manned many intersections – the heaviest security presence since the unrest began. The activist in contact with residents of Daraa told The Associated Press that massive crowds shouted "Syria, freedom!" as they marched toward one of the agricultural hub's main cemeteries.
Others in Daraa held a sit-in in the al-Mahata neighborhood to protest the killing of residents in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters, the activist said.
Inspired by the wave of pro-democracy protests around the region, the uprising in Daraa and at least four nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government, one of the most repressive in the Middle East. Security forces have responded with water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.
Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters, fatally shooting many in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said.
A resident of Daraa who was reached by phone from Damascus said witnesses there reported seeing at least 34 people slain.
He said at least 20 bodies were brought to Daraa National Hospital, and seven others taken to hospitals in neighboring areas. In the early evening, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Khirbet Ghazale and al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa but security forces opened fire and hit them with rifle butts as they approached. The resident said seven more were killed in that shooting. Hundreds were wounded, he said.
The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"It was a very difficult, bloody day," he said. "There is a state of undeclared curfew in Daraa, whenever troops see four or five more people gathered they open fire," he said.
"Daraa today is like a ghost town, we are very scared," he said. "Everything is closed and the streets are empty, everywhere you look there's security."
Abdul-Karim Rihawi, who heads the Syrian Human Rights League, said authorities had begun a campaign of detentions against activists, writers and bloggers in different parts of Syria.
Rihawi said the last to be detained was Mazen Darwish, a journalist who headed the independent Syrian Media Center. He said Darwish was summoned to a security office Wednesday noon and has not been seen since then. Also detained were well-known writer Loay Hussein and blogger Ahmad Hdaithi.
"These arrests will only increase tension," Rihawi said.
A statement posted Thursday on the Facebook page "The Syrian Revolution 2011" held Syrian authorities led by President Bashar Assad responsible for the violence and called on the Syrian people to hold protests in all Syrian provinces on Friday, which it dubbed "Dignity Friday."
An official at the Daraa National Hospital told The Associated Press by telephone that the hospital received a large number of casualties Wednesday and was "overwhelmed" with wounded people. He declined to say how many people were dead or hurt, saying he was not authorized to give out numbers or talk to the press.
He said the hospital had not received any new casualties since Wednesday night and that Daraa was "very quiet this morning."
Videos posted by activists on Youtube and Twitter showed dead and wounded people lying on a street in Daraa, as heavy gunfire crackled nearby and people shouted in panic.
One video showed a man with a bloodied face, apparently shot in the head, raising his index finger and saying "There is no God but Allah" – the credo Muslims are required to say before they die.
The authenticity of the videos could not be independently confirmed.
In a tacit admission that the protests hitting the Arab world have reached Syria, Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said in remarks carried by state-media that "the developments in the Arab world should should be a catalyst to build nations and not for undermining national unity."
Comments
17
Pending Commen
The family of a Libyan soldier killed in an allied airstrike quickly listed all those they blame in his death – al-Qaida militants, Al-Jazeera television and "the Crusader conspiracy to divide Libya."
Jon Stewart mocks the argument between Fox News and CNN reporters in Libya. The fight began when Fox News stated that some journalists, including CNN's Nic Robertson, were used as "human shields" by pro-Gaddafi Libyans.
Read more here.
WATCH:International court expects Libyan prosecution
CAIRO — The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said Thursday he is "100 percent" certain that his investigation into attacks on Libyan protesters will lead to crimes against humanity charges against the regime of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Gadhafi's crackdown on anti-regime protests that broke out last month has been the most violent against any of the anti-government uprisings across the Middle East.
Since the Libyan uprising broke out last month, Gadhafi's regime has faced international sanctions and a United Nations-authorized no-fly zone and bombing campaign against his forces. Libyan rebels still hold much of the country's western coastal strip, including their de facto capital in Benghazi. But they have so far failed to make new gains.
The court's investigation makes it likely that Gadhafi's regime will face additional censure, even if it retains power.
Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press on Thursday during a one-day visit to Cairo that he is "100 percent" certain his investigation will lead to charges of crimes against humanity against members of the Gadhafi regime.
Moreno-Ocampo said his team is looking into six incidents of "massive shooting of civilians" by security forces in Tripoli, Benghazi and other Libyan cities.
His team is working with a number of national police forces and Interpol to collect videos, photos and other evidence to determine who participated in and ordered the attacks, he said.
A later investigation will examine the regime's actions during the armed conflict with rebels.
In May, Moreno-Ocampo will present his findings to the United Nations Security Council, which instructed the court to investigate in a unanimous decision on Feb. 26. Since the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal has no police force of its own, the Security Council will likely play a role in having suspects arrested.
Moreno-Ocampo said that soon after, he'll present his case to the international court's judge, who will decide if the case will proceed.
The investigation was launched with unprecedented speed, which the prosecutor attributed to technology, which has brought images of Libyan violence to the world.
"Technology is reducing the distance between people in Libya and people in the (rest of the) world," the Argentine prosecutor said. "Journalists showing the killing of civilians in Libya created this willingness to intervene."
He said Gadhafi's reputation also played a role.
"Gadhafi's personality helped unite the world against him," he said, while insisting that he would remain impartial.
"I have to protect his rights," he said. "We don't care about personalities."
