AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian security forces killed 27 protesters yesterday demanding an end to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, rights campaigners said, and the European Union agreed to impose sanctions in response to his crackdown.
Activists and witnesses said demonstrations broke out after the main Friday prayers in cities across the country of 20 million people, from Banias on the Mediterranean coast to Qamishly in the Kurdish east.
The bloodiest confrontation took place in the city of Homs where 15 protesters were killed, activist Ammar Qurabi said.
State television said an army officer and four police were killed in Homs by a “criminal gang”, though another activist, Wissam Tarif, said witnesses told him nine soldiers defected in Homs to the protesters and may have clashed with other troops.
Four protesters were also killed in Deir al-Zor, said a local tribal leader from the region which produces most of Syria’s 380,000 barrels per day of oil. They were the first deaths reported there in seven weeks of nationwide unrest.
International criticism has mounted against Assad, who has gone on the offensive to maintain his family’s four-decade grip on power and crush demonstrators demanding freedom.
ASSET FREEZES
European Union governments agreed on Friday to impose asset freezes and travel restrictions against up to 14 Syrian officials responsible for the violent repression, which rights campaigners say has killed more than 580 people.
Officials give a lower death toll and say half the fatalities have been soldiers and police, blaming “armed terrorist groups” for the violence. They say demonstrators are few in number and do not represent the majority of Syrians.
Assad himself was not among those immediately targeted under the sanctions, which follow last week’s EU agreement in principle to impose an arms embargo on Syria. The measures will be approved on Monday if no member state objects.
Assad’s security forces and troops, which stormed the city of Deraa last week, have prevented demonstrators establishing a platform such as Egypt’s Tahrir Square by blocking access to the capital Damascus. But every week protesters have used Friday prayers to launch fresh marches.
“The people want the overthrow of the regime,” shouted 2,000 demonstrators in the Damascus suburb of Saqba. A youth riding a motorbike was later killed in Saqba when he approached a roadblock and soldiers opened fire on him, a witness said.
