The casualties included three people in Qatana, a suburb of
the capital, and four in the southern village of Dael, according to local
coordination committees in Syria, which helped organize the protests. One
person was also reported killed near the border with Lebanon.
The 10-week protests have evolved from a disparate movement
demanding reforms to a resilient uprising that is now seeking President Bashar
Assad's ouster. On Friday, protests erupted in the capital, Damascus, and the
coastal city of Banias, the central city of Homs and elsewhere.
Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been
killed since the revolt began in mid-March.
Many activists have been opting for nighttime demonstrations
and candlelight vigils in recent days, aiming for a time when the security
presence has thinned out. "We refuse to let them sleep," a
28-year-old Dael resident said of the security forces. "We drive them
crazy, as soon as they come to the neighborhood we go quiet and they get lost.
And then we start again when they leave," he told The Associated Press.
