9 killed in Syria protests

At least eight protesters fell in Douma, 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of the Syrian capital when police opened fire after protesters emerging from a mosque pelted them with stones.The security forces fired tear gas at the protesters to disperse them before firing live rounds. The death toll could be more than 10, said a witness, but he only provided six full names for those killed: Ibrahim Mubayed, Ahmad Rajab, Fuad Ballah, Muhammed Alaya, Naeem al-Moqaddam and Ammar al-Tinawi as well as a person from the Khuli family and another from the Issa family.“Dozens of people were also wounded and the security forces arrested dozens of others,” the witness said, adding that police are arresting some of the wounded and preventing them from going to hospital for treatment.According to the witness in Douma, around 3,000 protesters took to the streets. Terrified residents cowered indoors as snipers on rooftops opened fire on anyone who went outside, the witness said, adding that security forces ringed Douma, letting in only residents with the right ID cards.Meanwhile, at least three people were killed in the southern village of Sanamen near the flashpoint city of Daraa, when security forces opened fire to disperse a protest, a human rights activist said.But he could identify only one of the victims, Dia al-Shumari, in his 20s, who was shot dead as he entered Sanamen with a group of protesters from two nearby villages, Ankhal and Jassem.Protests calling for major reforms and an end to nearly five decades of emergency law broke out in Syria in mid-March, with Daraa quickly becoming the hub of the protests.