NICOSIA: Syrian security forces opened fire on thousands of demonstrators across the country on Friday, killing 14 and wounding scores, said Abdel Karim Rihawi, of the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
"Nine people were killed in Damascus — six in Qabun and three in Rukn Eddin (neighborhoods). Three others were killed in Idlib and two in Deraa," he said.
Some 20,000 people had turned out in the Damascus neighborhood of Qabun, where two people were killed, and three others were killed in Idlib, said Abdel Karim Rihawi, of the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
Rihawi added that two protesters were killed in the southern city of Deraa, and 15 more wounded in Kiswe, in Damascus province.
In the central city of Homs, 15 people were wounded when security forces fired on them, pro-democracy militants said, reporting on some of the mass demonstrations mounted after Friday prayers to demand the release of hundreds of people detained in earlier demonstrations.
Security agents used live ammunition to disperse protesters in the Qabun and Barzeh areas of the Damascus, while more demonstrators infiltrated the Madaya, Harasta and Saqba regions, Rihawi said.
The official Sana news agency said "armed men fired on security forces and citizens in the areas of Qabun and Rukn Eddin in Damascus."
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 350,000 people turned out in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, while 150,000 others in Hama protested against President Bashar Al-Assad.
Militants added that more than 7,000 people headed towards the Al-Hassan Mosque in the Midan area of Damascus, a focal point of protest in the capital.
Syrians had been urged to demonstrate on Friday to demand the release of those people imprisoned in a bloody crackdown on democracy protests, four months after they erupted.
Activists issued an appeal for protests to mark a day of "freedom for the hostages" on The Syrian Revolution 2011 page of Facebook, which has been a driving force behind the demonstrations.
The Facebook appeal called for nationwide demonstrations "for the freedom of prisoners, for the dignity of free men."
Like their cousins across the Arab world, Syrians have adopted Fridays, when they are allowed to gather for the main weekly Muslim prayers, as their main outlet for dissent.
In tandem with Friday’s protests, organizers called for a simultaneous "Conference of National Salvation" to be held on Saturday in Damascus and Istanbul to look at ways to oust President Bashar Al-Assad.
A statement said the conference will be held simultaneously in both cities "to draw up a road map that will bring the country out of despotism towards democracy and define the mechanism to overthrow the regime (as) sought by the (people of the) Syrian street."
Neighboring Turkey has seen thousands of Syrians flee to the country, seeking sanctuary from violence in their homeland.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has spoken of the need for Assad to announce "without further delay a calendar of reforms" which would bring an end to the violence in Syria.
In an interview published on Thursday, US Ambassador Robert Ford warned President Assad and his regime that "the street will wash them away" unless they adopt reforms at "the speed demanded by the street protesters."
Ford has become an irritation for Syrian authorities since last Friday when he attended a large demonstration in Hama, which has developed into an opposition stronghold.
A crowd of pro-regime supporters attacked the US embassy in Damascus during demonstrations against the United States on Monday, triggering an angry response from Washington.
Since the protests began on March 15, violence has killed 1,419 civilians and 352 members of the security forces, while more than 1,300 people have been arrested, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
On Thursday, security forces killed four people and wounded 16 others when they fired on protesters in Homs and Deir Ezzor, rights groups said.
State television, meanwhile, said gunmen in the western flashpoint city of Hama, where about half a million people have protested on the past two Fridays, had kidnapped two members of the security forces and a student.
The West has been ratcheting up pressure for United Nations Security Council action against Damascus, with France slamming China and Russia’s opposition to the move, calling it "indecent."
China and Russia — the latter a longtime strategic ally of Syria — maintain their opposition to any international interference in the country.
