<p>The death toll could be more than 10, said the witness but he only provided AFP four names for those killed -- Ibrahim Mubayed, Ahmad Rajab, Fuad Ballah and Mohammed Alaya.<br /><br />Worshippers emerged from Friday weekly Muslim prayers at the main mosque in Douma, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Syrian capital, and began pelting security forces with stones.<br /><br />The security forces fired back, killing at least four people, the witness said. A Syrian official was unable to confirm the report.<br /><br />In Daraa, one of the main focal points of rising dissent, witnesses told AFP that thousands of faithful gathered outside the flashpoint southern town's courthouse after leaving a mosque.<br /><br />"Death rather than humiliation," and "National Unity," they shouted.<br />Chants were also directed against President Bashar al-Assad, whose highly anticipated speech to parliament on Wednesday failed to match the demands of pro-reform protests that erupted more than two weeks ago.<br /><br />Protests also took place for the first time in the mainly Kurdish populated northeast, a Kurdish rights activist said.<br /><br />"Hundreds of people marched peacefully through the streets after Friday prayers in Qamishli and Amuda chanting 'We want freedom' and 'God, Syria and freedom'," rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.<br /><br />The "Friday of Martyrs" protests were also held from the coastal city of Latakia to Homs and Darriya, near the capital Damascus, where people chanted: "My beloved Syria, give me my freedom."<br /><br />The official SANA news agency confirmed demonstrations took place without incident near mosques in Daraa and Latakia, where protesters paid tribute to martyrs and called for speedier reforms.<br /><br />In Damascus, hundreds of protesters locked themselves up inside Al-Rifai mosque in the city centre chanting "Freedom, freedom," as security forces tried to break in, a demonstrator said, and a group of pro-regime loyalists gathered in the square opposite.<br /><br />In Banias, 280 kilometres (175 miles) northwest of Damascus, about 1,000 people demonstrated without incident. A petition signed by 18 Muslim clerics said the sheikhs "back the people's demands for reforms, liberty, the lifting of emergency law and the right to protest."</p>
<p>The death toll could be more than 10, said the witness but he only provided AFP four names for those killed -- Ibrahim Mubayed, Ahmad Rajab, Fuad Ballah and Mohammed Alaya.<br /><br />Worshippers emerged from Friday weekly Muslim prayers at the main mosque in Douma, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Syrian capital, and began pelting security forces with stones.<br /><br />The security forces fired back, killing at least four people, the witness said. A Syrian official was unable to confirm the report.<br /><br />In Daraa, one of the main focal points of rising dissent, witnesses told AFP that thousands of faithful gathered outside the flashpoint southern town's courthouse after leaving a mosque.<br /><br />"Death rather than humiliation," and "National Unity," they shouted.<br />Chants were also directed against President Bashar al-Assad, whose highly anticipated speech to parliament on Wednesday failed to match the demands of pro-reform protests that erupted more than two weeks ago.<br /><br />Protests also took place for the first time in the mainly Kurdish populated northeast, a Kurdish rights activist said.<br /><br />"Hundreds of people marched peacefully through the streets after Friday prayers in Qamishli and Amuda chanting 'We want freedom' and 'God, Syria and freedom'," rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.<br /><br />The "Friday of Martyrs" protests were also held from the coastal city of Latakia to Homs and Darriya, near the capital Damascus, where people chanted: "My beloved Syria, give me my freedom."<br /><br />The official SANA news agency confirmed demonstrations took place without incident near mosques in Daraa and Latakia, where protesters paid tribute to martyrs and called for speedier reforms.<br /><br />In Damascus, hundreds of protesters locked themselves up inside Al-Rifai mosque in the city centre chanting "Freedom, freedom," as security forces tried to break in, a demonstrator said, and a group of pro-regime loyalists gathered in the square opposite.<br /><br />In Banias, 280 kilometres (175 miles) northwest of Damascus, about 1,000 people demonstrated without incident. A petition signed by 18 Muslim clerics said the sheikhs "back the people's demands for reforms, liberty, the lifting of emergency law and the right to protest."</p>