Demonstration In Syria, 19 Policemen Were Killed

Syrian media reported the 19 police and security forces members were killed in various clashes in the southern city Daraa Friday.

The chaos began when unknown gunmen opened fire on police and civilians who held a peaceful anti-government protests after Friday prayers, said the official Syrian news agency Sana quoted as saying by Reuters.

Opposition sources said the police who opened fire on demonstrators in an effort to disperse their meetings.

The activists demonstrated in Daraa and they call themselves Syrian Revolution - 2011. They have broadcast a list of 14 people were killed in clashes on Friday on Facebook.

Authorities in Daraa say they do not block the demonstrators to participate in demonstrations and keeping the incident under control at the time of collision and the shooting began.

In the eastern region, thousands of Kurdish demonstrations demanding reform even though the president this week has eased the rules that make many Kurds do not get citizenship, says a number of activists.

Protests swept country of 20 million people, from the Mediterranean port city of Latakia to the Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, when the demonstration entered the fourth week regardless of the security forces operations and the increasing promise of reforms by the government.

"Freedom, freedom, we want freedom," shouted thousands of protesters in many Syrian cities. Some people chanted, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Daraa."

Residents said the security forces using water cannons and smoke bombs to disperse the protest of about 2,000 people in Hama, a city where thousands of people were killed in 1982.

They opened fire on thousands of demonstrators in Daraa, where demonstrations erupted the first time in March. According to them, demonstrators set fire to a building owned by the ruling Baath Party and destroyed the statue of the president's brother, Basil.