Sunday, April 17, 2011

Death Toll Rising, 3 Shot at a Funeral

Reuters: Assad pledge fails to quell Syria anger; troops fire



"Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters at a funeral on Sunday, witnesses said, and an announcement that President Bashar al-Assad would lift 48-years of emergency rule failed to quell fury on the streets.

Two witnesses said security forces killed three mourners when they opened fire on a funeral for a man killed the day before, which turned into a demonstration on a highway outside the town of Talbiseh, north of the central city of Homs.

One resident said he counted five tanks and saw soldiers wearing combat gear deployed around the town.

Chants at protests on Sunday, Syria's Independence Day holiday, more hostile toward Assad than at previous marches held in recent weeks, a sign that a promise to lift the country's hated emergency law had failed to appease the public.

Opposition figures say they believe new laws that will replace the emergency rule are likely to retain severe curbs on political freedoms.

Thousands of demonstrators called for Bashar's overthrow at another funeral, held in Hirak town northeast of the southern city of Deraaa, for soldier Mohammad Ali Radwan al-Qoman, whose relatives believe he was tortured by the security forces.

"Freedom, freedom Syria, Bashar get out," people chanted, their slogans audible in a telephone call with one of the mourners at the funeral."

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