Syrian forces shot dead at least 72 people as they tried to disperse thousands on the streets for 'Good Friday' protests to test long-sought freedoms, drawing Western condemnation, activists said.

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UN chief Ban Ki-moon joined Western leaders in condemning Damascus after Syrian forces killed at least 75 people during "Good Friday" protests in one of the bloodiest days of a month-long uprising.

Syrian forces shot dead at least 15 people when they moved in to scatter thousands who took to the streets for 'Good Friday' protests to test long sought-after freedoms, sources said.

A day after Pre

Syrian security forces Tuesday fired on a mass protest of thousands in the city of Homs demanding the fall of the regime, hours after the authorities vowed to suppress an 'armed revolt' in the country

President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday the emergency law in force in Syria for nearly 50 years will be abolished within a week, and expressed his sadness at the deaths of protesters.

"The juridic

Regime supporters broke up two rallies in southern Syria on Sunday, wounding five people after a presidential vow to end emergency rule within a week was dismissed as not enough and was followed by ne

A Syrian policeman was killed, state media reported on Saturday, as protests demanding freedoms and reform snowballed a month after they started in one of the West Asia’s most autocratic countries.

Protests erupted across much of the Arab world on the Muslim day of prayer, with demonstrators killed in Syria and Yemen while Egyptians staged one of the biggest rallies since President Hosni Mubarak

Syrian opposition movements are readying on Friday for protests after Muslim prayers, their first since President Bashar al-Assad thwarted their hopes for greater freedoms in a long-awaited speech.

Syria has freed more than 200 political detainees, mostly Islamists, who were being held at the country's infamous Saydnaya prison, a London-based rights group reported on Saturday.