Four dead in new Syrian protests :

President Assad pledges reform

Syria: At least four people were killed and around 50 wounded when Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession in Talbisseh near the central town of Homs Sunday, witnesses said.

Regime supporters also broke up two rallies in southern Syria, wounding five people after a presidential vow to end emergency rule within a week was dismissed as not enough and was followed by new protests.

In the country’s major port, Latakia, around 10,000 people took to the streets late Sunday after the funeral of a protester killed on Friday, a rights activist told AFP.

Security forces “opened fire on a crowd of thousands of people” in Homs at the funeral of a man killed in the area the previous day, witnesses told AFP by telephone.

“At least four people were killed, but the toll could be much higher. There were also more than 50 wounded,” one witness said.

The official news agency SANA reported: “One policeman was killed and 11 others were wounded by fire from an armed criminal group in Talbisseh.”

The report added: “Three armed criminals were killed and 15 others injured, as well as five soldiers.

“The criminals opened fire from buildings close to an army post near the bridge where the army had been sent to apprehend these gangs.”

Sunday’s protests followed a Saturday televised address by President Bashar al-Assad promising to end emergency rule, in force since 1963 when the Baath party took power, within a week.

The current emergency law restricts public gatherings and movement, authorises the interrogation of any individual and the monitoring of private communications and imposes media censorship.

In a televised address to the new cabinet charged with launching reforms, Assad also expressed his sorrow over the deaths of an estimated 200 people in a month of protests demanding greater freedoms.

Damascus, Monday, AFP