82 Killed as Tens of Thousands Rally across Syria

Tens of thousands demonstrated across Syria on Friday after the main weekly Muslim prayers, notably in northern Aleppo, with security forces opening fire on protesters in various regions, killing at least 82 people, activists said.

"There are 15 demonstrations taking place in the city of Aleppo and about 40 across the province," local activist Mohammed Halabi told Agence France Presse by telephone.

"Security forces have opened fire at most of the demonstrations to disperse the crowds," he added. "In Aleppo city, there is a heavy security presence and arrests taking place."

He said the protests in Aleppo marked the largest turnout since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime broke out one year ago.

Demonstrators called for Assad to be executed and for the rebel Free Syrian Army to be given weapons, he said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said up to 15,000 people demonstrated in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the uprising.

Demonstrations were also taking place in the coastal city of Latakia, in central Homs and Hama, as well as Deir al-Zour in the east.

Abdel Rahman said one demonstrator was killed and five wounded in Jarablos, in Aleppo province, when troops opened fire on protesters.

Fifteen other civilians were killed in violence across the country, the Observatory said.

But the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, reported a much higher death toll.

Twenty-six people were killed in the central province of Homs, 33 in the northern province of Idlib, five in the southern province of Daraa, four in the central province of Hama, nine in Damascus province, six in the southern province of Daraa, two in the coastal province of Latakia, one in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and one in Aleppo province, the LCC said.

And the Observatory said at least 11 people were killed in the central province of Homs, including eight in shelling and gunfire in various neighborhoods of the city itself.

Two were killed elsewhere in the province when security forces opened fire on demonstrators and one woman was killed by sniper fire, it said.

In the capital Damascus, one man was killed in shooting overnight, according to the Observatory.

Opposition activists called for Friday's protests, which have become a weekly event since the uprising began, to be held in solidarity with the country's Kurdish minority, as they prepare to celebrate their New Year festival Nowruz.