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Reports: Syrian Security Forces Kill 3 at Protesters' Funeral

   VOA News  May 21, 2011
   Map of Homs in Syria

   Activists in Syria say security forces killed at least three people
   Saturday after opening fire on a crowd attending a funeral procession
   for anti-government protesters.
   News reports quoted activists, who said the shooting occurred in the
   central city of Homs, where a number of people, were killed Friday in a
   crackdown on demonstrators rallying against President Bashar al-Assad's
   government.
   Activists said tens of thousands of people took part in Saturday's
   funeral procession. The group reportedly came under fire as they came
   from the Tal al-Nasr cemetery.
   [1]Syria's National Organization for Human Rights has put the estimated
   death toll from Friday's shootings at 44. The group said Saturday that
   most of the deaths took place in Homs and the western province of
   Idlib.
   Syria, meanwhile, blamed armed groups for Friday's violence and said 17
   civilians, police and security forces had been killed in Idlib and
   Homs. The state news agency said the armed groups also attacked police
   stations.
   The government has repeatedly blamed the unrest in the country on armed
   gangs.
   The accounts cannot be independently verified as Syria has banned
   foreign journalists from the country.
   Friday's violence came a day after U.S. President Barack Obama said
   President Assad must either lead a transition to democracy or "get out
   of the way."
   Syrian rights activists say more than 850 civilians have been killed
   since mid-March, when protesters began calling for democratic reforms
   and Assad's ouster. Authorities have arrested at least 7,000 people as
   part of a government crackdown.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
   Follow our Middle East reports on [2]Twitter
   and discuss them on our [3]Facebook page.

References

   1. http://www.nohr-s.org/new/
   2. http://twitter.com/VOAMidEast
   3. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667?%20%20%20%20v=wall

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