11 Killed in Deraa as Massive Anti-Govt Protests Grip Syria

A TV grab taken from Al Arabiya channel on 29 April 2011, shows an anti-government demonstration in the city of Hama, Syria. EPA/BGNES

At least 11 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Deraa in clashes with security forces as thousands of protesters swept Syria Friday demanding that President Bashar al-Assad step down.

Four of those killed are security officers and seven are protesters, according to international media reports. Official Syrian sources say the deaths have been caused by terrorists.

The Syrian government mobilized army units across the capital and other cities as thousands of demonstrators, demanding the ouster President Bashar al-Assad's regime took to the streets of several cities, including the coastal town of Baniyas, witnesses have said, as cited by Al Jazeera.

Activists have staged protests following Friday prayers to commemorate the killings of over 100 protesters last Friday.

Al Jazeera correspondent Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said today's slogan is "solidarity for Deraa".

The call for mass demonstrations was made in a statement on the Facebook page of Syrian Revolution 2011, a motor of the protests in which demonstrators inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world are seeking greater freedoms.

"To the youths of the revolution, tomorrow we will be in all the places, in all the streets ... We will gather at the besieged towns, including with our brothers in Deraa," the statement said.

Al Jazeera cites witnesses from Deraa, the rebellious southern city, as saying that there wasa split in the military forces sent by Assad to lay siege to the city.

"Deraa is completely surrounded by tanks and armed troops. There are snipers on the roofs of government buildings and tall buildings. They are hiding behind water tanks and some are even hiding in the minarets of mosques."

The source said not all members of the Fifth Division had defected, but those who had were attempting to protect civilians against attacks on them by the Fourth Division, led by Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad.

Al Jazeera further points out that Friday's demonstrations have the backing of the outlawed Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was crushed by the regime in 1982.

It is the first time that the Brotherhood has called directly for protests in Syria since pro-democracy demonstrations against Assad, nearly erupted six weeks ago.

The protests have drawn a cross section of Syrian society, which has been under Baath Party rule for the last 48 years.

The younger Assad kept intact the autocratic political system he inherited in 2000 from his father, Hafez al-Assad.

On Monday, Syrian army backed by tanks and armoured vehicle stormed Deraa resulting in further casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on Deraa has killed at least 50 civilians, with essential supplies in the city running law.