At least 4 killed as thousands defy Syria's Assad

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.

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.

The security forces fired back, killing at least four people, the witness said. A Syrian official was unable to confirm the report.

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.

"Death rather than humiliation," and "National Unity," they shouted.
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.

Protests also took place for the first time in the mainly Kurdish populated northeast, a Kurdish rights activist said.

"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.

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."

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.

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.

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."