Protesters in Syrian city hold sit-in

Monday, April 18th, 2011 | Posted by Noor

Calls made for overthrow of President Assad, a day after 30 demonstrators were reportedly killed by security forces.

Thousands marched in Homs on Monday as three group funerals were held for victims killed overnight

Tens of thousands of Syrians have gathered in the main square in the central city of Homs, a day after activists said at least 25 people were killed there.

A protester who gave his name as Rami told Al Jazeera that about 50,000 people were staging a sit-in on Monday and would “continue to protest until the regime is overthrown”.

There were reports of warnings that security forces were about to disperse the crowds.

Earlier in the day, thousands attended the funerals for protesters killed in Homs, shouting slogans against Bashar al-Assad, the country’s president.

Witnesses said mourners chanted “From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar,” and “Either freedom or death, the people want to topple this regime”.

Monday’s protests are the largest to hit the strategically important city, Syria’s third largest, since protests in the country began one month ago.

“I’m 45 years old. It’s the first time in my life I break the barrier of silence, the first time I feel freedom,” a protester who gave his name as Abu Omar told Al Jazeera.

“The regime does not wish us to enjoy freeedom or dignity. For decades we’ve been ruled by an iron fist, by the force of weapon.”

Demonstrations were also reported in the Barzeh district of the capital, Damascus, and in Ain al-Arab in the mainly Kurdish north. About 1,500 people gathered at the Shaghour bridge between Aleppo and Latakia in the morning.

Homs violence

A protester in Homs told Al Jazeera that protesters were killed after evening prayers on Sunday when a group of around 40 demonstrators gathered outside the Bab al-Sibaa mosque chanting “freedom”.

The protester, who gave his name as Abu Haider, said seven cars pulled up to the protesters and men in civilian clothes jumped out and opened fire on the crowd without warning.

“First we were calling for reforms, now we’re calling for regime change,” he said. “No one will accept the death of the martyrs.”

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus on Monday, reported that the situation in Homs was very tense.

“People are complaining that many of the wounded are not going to the hospital, they fear that the security forces will pick them up from their hospital bed,” she said.

“There is also a shortage of blood according to the people we have been talking to.

She said there was also tension in the nearby town of Talbiseh, where activists said five people were killed on Sunday.

The town was sealed off by government forces on Monday.

The government and the opposition were trading blame over the heightened tensions and deadly clashes.

“The [accounts of] the government and the protesters vary. It is very hard to get information from there because there are no journalists there to verify what is happening,” our correspondent said.

The latest clashes came two days after Assad said Syria’s decades-long emergency laws would be lifted within a week and also promised a number of other reforms.

Despite the apparent concessions, activists had called for protests across nationwide on Sunday, which was Syria’s Independence Day, commemorating the departure of the last French soldier 65 years ago.

The Damascus Declaration, an opposition umbrella group, called for peaceful protests in all cities and abroad to “bolster Syria’s popular uprising and ensure its continuity”.

In a statement posted on its website, the Damascus Declaration said the government was responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of Syrians who have been exercising their legitimate rights in the past month.

“The regime alone stands fully responsible for the blood of martyrs and all that will happen next in the country,” the statement said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies