Activists in Homs said the eight were killed late on Sunday during protests against the death in custody of a tribal leader.
A rights group claimed at least 12 people died countrywide in violence on Sunday. Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said apart from the eight deaths in Homs, 160 km north of Damascus, four protesters were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the northern cities of Latakia and Idlib.
"From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar," the mourners chanted, according to a witness at the funeral in Homs. YouTube footage showed thousands of people filling a wide city square.
At least four coffins were carried by the funeral marchers, said a witness. Security forces stayed away from the mourners in an apparent move to avoid confrontation, said the witness.
Assad, facing a month of demonstrations against his Baath party rule, said Saturday that legislation to replace nearly half a century of emergency law should be in place by next week. But his pledge did little to appease protesters calling for greater freedoms in Syria, or curb violence which human rights organizations say has killed at least 200 people.
"Homs is boiling. The security forces and the regime thugs have been provoking armed tribes for a month now," a rights activist told Reuters from the city. Civilians who took to the streets "were shot at in cold blood," he said.
Further north in Jisr Al-Shughour around 1,000 people called on Monday for "the overthrow of the regime," echoing chants of protesters who overthrew leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, at the funeral of a man they said was killed by security forces.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem pledged Monday that Syria will go ahead with reforms as promised, but warned against "sabotage" committed by protesters, the state-run SANA news agency reported.
"Those who want reforms should not use weapons or violence or carry out acts of sabotage by torching state institutions and cutting off roads," he said.
