A member of the security police addressed the protesters at al-Saa (Clock) Square through a loud speaker asking them to leave, and then the forces opened fire, said the human-rights campaigner. The campaigner is in contact with protesters in the square, according to Reuters.
The protesters put up tents in the square, copying demonstrators in Egypt who forced out veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February after 18 days of protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Tear gas was also used. At least one protester was injured, the activist added.
According to Agence-France Press, protesters in al-Saa Square chanted “sit-in, sit-in until the fall of the regime,” and “Freedom, Freedom.”
The Homs sit-in started with a group of 3,000 people but swelled to 10,000 by late afternoon on Monday, and twice as many in the evening.
Several hours earlier, Syrian state television broadcast an interior ministry statement that described the wave of unrest in Syria as an insurrection.
“The latest incidents have shown that… armed Salafi groups, particularly in the cities of Homs and Banias, have openly called for armed revolt,” said a ministry statement carried by the official SANA news agency.
Salafism is a strict form of Sunni Islam, which many Arab governments equate with militant groups like al-Qaeda.
The ministry accused such groups of killing soldiers, policemen and civilians, and of attacking public and private property, and warned that “their terrorist activities will not be tolerated,” AFP reported.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria announced last Saturday, April 16, that he would end nearly half a century of emergency rule with legislation that should be in place by next week. But his pledge did little to appease protesters calling for political freedoms.
Rights campaigners say more than 200 people have been killed since the protests began.
Syria’s population is estimated at 23 million, according to the latest surveys.
Thousands demanded the overthrow of the 46-year-old President Assad on Monday at the funerals of 17 protesters killed in Homs, 165 km (100 miles) north of Damascus. Human rights campaigners said the 17 had been killed late on Sunday during protests against the death in custody of a tribal leader in Homs.
“From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar,” the mourners at the funeral chanted, according to Reuters.
The government says Syria is the target of a conspiracy and authorities blame the violence on armed gangs and infiltrators supplied with weapons from Lebanon and Iraq. Opposition groups say there is no evidence of a conspiracy.
Western countries have condemned the violence but shown no sign of taking action against Mr. Assad, who consolidated his father’s anti-Israel alliance with Iran and has backed the Islamist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The Syrian regime has intermittently engaged in indirect peace talks with Israel.
The State Department said on Monday that the United States was not working to undermine the Syrian government, but was trying to support democratic goals as it does elsewhere in the world, according to Reuters. In diplomatic code, such language is generally understood to mean that the US was indeed working to undermine President Assad’s regime.
The United States is “very concerned… about the Assad regime,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
The Washington Post on Monday cited diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showing that the State Department had funneled up to $6 million since 2006 to Syrian exiles to operate a London-based satellite TV channel and finance activities inside Syria.
The channel, Barada TV, began broadcasting in April 2009 but has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria that began last month as part of a long-standing campaign to overthrow President Assad, The Washington Post said.
The Post article said it was unclear whether the United States was still funding Syrian opposition groups, but the cables indicate money was set aside at least through September 2010.
Source: AlArabiya.net