Syrian forces kill three protesters in southern city

DAMASCUS,  (Reuters) – Syrian security forces killed  three protesters in the southern city of Deraa today, a  resident said, in the first violent clashes to hit Syria since a  wave of uprisings swept through the Arab world.
The demonstrators were taking part in a peaceful protest  demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption in Syria,  which has been ruled under emergency laws by President Bashar  al-Assad’s Baath Party for nearly half a century.
Hussam Abdel Wali Ayyash, Akram Jawabreh and Ayhem al-Hariri  were among several thousand people chanting “God, Syria,  Freedom” and slogans accusing the family of the president of  corruption, the resident said.
They were shot dead by security forces who were reinforced  with troops flown in by helicopters, he added. Scores of other  demonstrators were wounded.
“The confrontations are ongoing. They are heavy,” the  resident told Reuters.
A video aired on Facebook showed what it described as  demonstrators in Deraa shouting slogans earlier in the day  against Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad’s who  owns several large businesses.
“Makhlouf you thief!” shouted dozens of demonstrators  marching in the streets.
Syria’s ruling hierarchy have indicated they believe they  are immune from the uprisings which have toppled entrenched  leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, but small nonviolent protests this  week challenged their authority for the first time in years.
On Wednesday plain-clothed security forces wielding batons  dispersed 150 demonstrators in central Damascus who had gathered  outside the Interior Ministry to demand the release of political  prisoners.
Assad, who succeeded his father 11 years ago, is also head  of the Baath party, which has been in power since 1963, banning  opposition and imposing the emergency law still in force.
He said in an interview published in January that Syria’s  ruling hierarchy was “very closely linked to the beliefs of the  people” and that there was no mass discontent against the state.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Syria’s  authorities were among the worst violators of human rights in  2010, jailing lawyers, torturing opponents and using violence to  repress ethnic Kurds.
Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad, sent troops into the city  of Hama in 1982 to finish off the armed wing of the Muslim  Brotherhood. Around 30,000 people were killed and much of the  old quarter of the city was razed to the ground.