Syrian forces killed at least 32 civilians yesterday, including 23 in the capital Damascus, in an intensifying crackdown on protests against president Bashar al-Assad, activists said.
It was the highest death toll in the central neighbourhoods of Damascus since the uprising erupted four months ago in the southern Hauran Plain near Syria's border with Jordan.
"Tens of thousands of Damascenes took to the streets in the main districts for the first time today, that is why the regime resorted to more killings," said one activist by telephone from Damascus. He declined to be named for fear of being arrested.
The killings prompted the opposition to cancel their planned National Salvation conference in Qaboun neighbourhood of Damascus today after security forces killed 14 protesters outside a wedding hall where the conference had been due to take place, opposition leader Walid al-Bunni said.
"Secret police also threatened the owner of the wedding hall. We decided to cancel the meeting to save lives," Mr Bunni said by telephone from Damascus.
He said prominent opposition figures and activists would still hold a separate conference in Istanbul today.
The rest of those killed in Damasacus were in Barzeh, where one protester had died, and in Rukn al-Din quarter of the city, where security forces fired protesters killing eight people.
Two protesters were killed in the southern suburb of Qadam.
Mr Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party rule, has sought to crush demonstrations that broke out in March. But although rights groups say some 1,400 civilians have been killed, the protests have grown.
Activists and witnesses said police fired live ammunition and teargas in the capital Damascus and suburbs. They killed four in the southern city of Deraa, the cradle of the uprising.
Three protesters were shot dead in the northwestern province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, where troops and tanks have attacked villages, the witnesses and activists said. Two people were also killed in the city of Homs.
Reuters