BEIRUT — Protesters throughout Syria joined in large, boisterous and peaceful rallies Friday, defying a bloody government crackdown that continued despite international calls the day before for the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
Security forces loyal to Assad shrugged off the mounting international pressure, killing at least 22 people and laying siege to several opposition strongholds.
The southern province of Dara, where the uprising began after the detention and torture of a group of teenagers accused of writing graffiti, bore the brunt of the violence. Security forces allegedly killed 15 people, including two children, according to activists collecting names and accounts.
According to Local Coordinating Committees, an activist network, three soldiers were also shot dead in the province when they refused to open fire on demonstrators in the town of Inkhel.
The latest round of confrontations came a day after the United States and its chief European allies called on Assad to step aside for what they termed gross violations of human rights, and suggested how little leverage the international community has over a regime that has grown accustomed to its pariah status.
The U.S. also tightened sanctions on the regime. European leaders were discussing new economic measures, including a possible sanction on Syrian energy companies. Tunisia, where the wave of uprisings against Arab autocrats began nine months ago, and Switzerland this week joined the list of countries recalling their ambassadors to Syria.
But Friday also showed the resolve of a protest movement that has grown geographically and found ever more creative ways to challenge Assad.
“Bye, bye, Bashar!” protesters taunted in English as they held up their shoes — a grave insult to the president in a Muslim culture — in the city of Homs, according to video posted to the Internet.
On a day dubbed “the promise of victory” by activists, protesters gathered even in areas that had come under attack by security forces in recent weeks, coinciding with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Security forces responded with gunfire, according to witnesses and activists, despite assurances Assad reportedly made to a United Nations envoy this week that the crackdown against protesters had ended.
Security forces and militias have killed more than 2,000 Syrians in a five-month campaign to crush a movement aiming to topple the Assad family.
Arab Unrest
LIBYA: Rebels claim port city captured.
Libyan rebels battling Moammar Khadafy’s troops along the country’s Mediterranean coast said they have captured all of the strategic eastern port city of Brega, which has repeatedly changed hands in the 6-month-old civil war.
Rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani said fighters gained control today of the industrial section of Brega, after having captured its residential areas last week. Brega’s capture is an important boost for the rebels. It contains Libya’s second-largest hydrocarbon complex and is where the country’s main oil fields feed into for refining.
BAHRAIN: Shiite cleric assails Sunni leaders.
A senior Shiite cleric in Bahrain said Friday that Sunni gulf leaders are showing double standards by supporting Arab uprisings elsewhere while aiding Bahrain’s crackdown on its pro-reform demonstrations.
Sheik Isa Qassim said Shiite- led calls for greater rights in Bahrain are being ignored by gulf neighbors that have backed other revolts, such as those in Syria and Libya.
SYRIA: Red Cross hopes to visit prisons “within weeks.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday that it was optimistic about receiving permission to visit prisons in Syria “within weeks” and will send additional medical staff to the country to examine injured detainees, if necessary.
The Geneva-based organization visits detainees around the world, specializing in monitoring the welfare of prisoners of war and others held in conflict-like situations.
Denver Post wire services
