Middle East unrest: Three killed at protest in Syria

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12791738

18 March 2011 Last updated at 18:02 ET

Middle East unrest: Three killed at protest in Syria

At least three protesters have been shot dead in the south Syrian city of Deraa

as security forces clamped down on a protest rally.

They were killed by security forces as protesters demanded political freedom and

an end to corruption, eyewitnesses and activists told foreign media.

One activist said as many as five people had been killed.

President Bashar al-Assad, whose Baath party has dominated politics for nearly

50 years, tolerates no dissent.

The state news agency Sana said violence and " acts of sabotage " had broken out

at a demonstration in Deraa on Friday, prompting security forces to intervene.

It accused " infiltrators " of seeking to " provoke chaos through acts of violence

which resulted in damage to private and public property " .

'Hundreds injured'

Two of the dead people were named by witnesses as Hussam Abdel Wali Ayyash and

Akram Jawabreh.

They had been among " several thousand " demonstrators chanting " God, Syria,

Freedom " and anti-corruption slogans, accusing the president's family of

corruption, a resident told Reuters news agency.

Security forces, the Reuters source added, were reinforced with troops flown in

by helicopters.

An unnamed human rights activist in Deraa, who was contacted by AFP news agency,

said security forces had fired live bullets at the protesters and " hundreds " of

protesters had also been wounded.

He told AFP that " many " of the wounded had been " snatched by security forces "

from hospital and moved to unknown locations.

Mazen Darwish, a prominent Syrian activist in Damascus, was quoted by the

Associated Press news agency as saying that at least five people were shot and

killed. He was citing eyewitnesses and hospital officials at the scene.