Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Daraa on Friday, a city in the south of Syria that has become a flashpoint for anti-government demonstrations. Witnesses said security forces opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 16 people.
Syrian security forces are reported to have opened fire on tens of thousands of protesters in Daraa on Friday, killing 16 and wounding hundreds.
Syria state TV is reporting that 19 policemen and members of the security forces were killed when gunmen shot back at the security forces.
Residents of Daraa turned mosques into makeshift hospitals to help tend to hundreds of wounded protesters.
Three people were also reported killed in Harasta, a suburb of Damascus. One person was reported killed in Homs.
In that past three weeks of unrest, which started when high school students scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall in Daraa, protests turned violent and about 115 people are reported to have been killed.
Thursday President Bashar Assad granted citizenship to thousands of Kurds, but protests continued Friday in Amouda — a Kurdish city. Kurds have been waiting for decades for citizenship rights.