Activists call for more protests in Syria

[April 01, 2011]  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrian security forces stepped up their presence in the capital and across Syrian provinces Friday ahead of planned demonstrations to honor those killed in two weeks of protests demanding reforms.

Syrian activists have called through social network sites for massive demonstrations following Friday midday prayers across the nation. They have dubbed the protests "Friday of Martyrs" in reference to more than 70 people who died in the government crackdown on protesters.

The protests erupted March 18 in the impoverished and drought-stricken south and spread quickly to other areas.

President Bashar Assad dashed expectations he would announce sweeping reforms this week and instead blamed the popular fury that has gripped Syria on a foreign conspiracy. He set up committees on Thursday to investigate the civilian deaths and the possibility of replacing decades-old emergency laws.

The wave of protests has presented the 45-year-old leader with the gravest challenge since he inherited power 11 years ago from his father, taking the helm of one of the Middle East's most authoritarian regimes.

Scores of plainclothes security agents deployed Friday in Damascus near the historic Umayyad mosque, where only last week, pro- and anti-government crowds clashed, hitting each other with leather belts.

As people began leaving the mosque Friday, a crowd of about 300 people carrying Syrian flags and pictures of Assad broke out into clapping and chants of "Allah, Syria, Bashar!"

Security forces made no attempt to stop them.

An eyewitness in the restive southern city of Daraa, the center of the clashes last week, said troops were surrounding the city in an effort to head off planned protests.

[Associated Press; By ZEINA KARAM]

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