DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian security forces have dispersed thousands of protesters marching towards central Damascus from the suburb of Douma, witnesses say.Haitham al-Maleh, an activist and lawyer, told Al Jazeera on Friday that protesters were close to Abasyeen Square when the intelligence services brought several buses carrying men with "pistols and sticks" who attacked protesters. He said those injured were taken away by medics. Other sources said security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Elsewhere in the capital, violence reportedly erupted when dozens of armed men in plain clothes surrounded about 250 protesters rallying in front of the Salam mosque in Barzeh district.- Thousands were also demonstrating in the southern city of Daraa. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin said security forces were not visible in the city, and that the protesters were being allowed to hold their demonstration.
- Protests were also held in Baniyas, Latakia, Baida and Homs, but no clashes were reported there.
In the coastal city of Baniyas about 1,500 people chanted "freedom" after Friday prayers, despite the deployment of the army to contain protests, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Rallies were also reported in the city of Deir ez-Zor, on the Euphrates river, and in Qamishli in the mainly Kurdish northeast.
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