Thousands of Syrians on April 18 demanded the overthrow of President Bashar Assad at the funeral of eight protesters killed in the central city of Homs as unrest swelled despite a promise to lift emergency law. Activists in Homs said the eight were killed late on April 17 during protests against the death in custody of a tribal leader.
A rights group claimed at least 12 people died countrywide in violence on April 17. Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria’s National Organisation 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. YouTube footage showed thousands of people filling a wide city square.
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 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.