AMMAN: Syrian security forces opened fire on mourners near a mosque in the flashpoint city of Deraa after a mass funeral for protesters, witnesses said Saturday. Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands of people who were chanting freedom slogans after assembling near the Omari Mosque in the old quarter of the city, near the border with Jordan, they said. Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of protests across Syria against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad. A rights group said at least 37 people had been killed in protests across the country Friday. “Syrian security committed (in Deraa) what could be called a crime against humanity,” the National Organization for Human Rights said in a statement. “It fired indiscriminately on protesters and killed and wounded tens of them.” State television, for its part, said armed groups had killed 19 policemen and wounded 75 in the city. The Interior Ministry warned it would not tolerate breaches of the law and would deal with “armed groups”, state news agency SANA said. In the early hours of Saturday, security forces used live ammunition to disperse hundreds of people in Latakia, causing scores of injuries and possible deaths, residents said. One witness said he had seen water trucks washing blood off the streets near Takhasussieh School in the Sleibeh district. “You can't go two steps on the street without risking arrest,” a resident said. “It's difficult to know if there were deaths, but we heard heavy AK-47 fire.” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the violence, urging Syria to implement “meaningful political reforms”. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem told ambassadors in Damascus that “subversive elements infiltrated the protesters and opened fire on police and the protesters to drag the country into violence and cause chaos”. President Assad has also said the protests are serving a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife. The Interior Ministry accused “plotters pushed by known foreign sides” of firing at protesters to create a rift between people and police.
