Security kills 20 demonstrators in 'Day of Defiance'

A grab taken off a video downloaded from YouTube shows Syrians demonstrating in Kofr Bel Syria's security forces shot dead at least 13 people Friday as thousands rallied on a "Day of Defiance" against the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad after tanks converged on protest centres. At the same time, armed criminals gangs killed one officer and four policemen, state news agency SANA said.
In Brussels, the European Union agreed to impose sanctions on 13 Syrian officials involved in the regime's brutal crackdown on protests and will meet Monday to discuss whether to target Assad as well, diplomats said.
Security forces opened fire to disperse protests that broke out after weekly Muslim prayers in the central city of Homs, killing eight people and wounding several others, some seriously, a rights activist said.
There were several protests in Homs but security forces fired on a crowd of demonstrators to disperse them when they reached Bab Dreib area in the centre of town, activist Najati Tayara said, as other activists confirmed the report.
Tanks entered the industrial city earlier and also rolled into other protest centres across Syria.
"Dozens of people were arrested in several districts of the city during the night between Thursday and Friday," Tayara said by phone from Homs.
Using loudspeakers, security forces ordered residents who took part in protests to head to their neighbourhood police stations "to avoid being arrested and punished," activists said.
Shopkeepers were ordered to close their businesses while residents were told to stay indoors.
SANA said an "armed criminal group" opened fire fired on a security checkpoint in Baba Amr in Homs, killing an officer and four policemen."
It said the bodies of those killed were then "mutilated" by their assailants.
In Hama, also north of the capital, another five demonstrators were killed, an activist said.
And in the Midan neighbourhood of Damascus, prominent dissident Riad Seif was arrested, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. A 64-year-old former MP, Seif had been imprisoned twice since 2001, serving in total more than seven years in jail, for seeking reforms and constitutional changes in autocratic Syria.
Around 9,000 people also rallied in the Kurdish areas of Amuda and Derbassiye in northeast Syria, while thousands took to the streets in the coastal city of Banias, Kafar Nubbol in the north, Al-Bukamal near the border with Iraq and in Deir Ezzor in the east, activists said. Thousands also swarmed Saqba, near Damascus, where 300 people were rounded up on Thursday.
The new troop deployment came as the army pursued its withdrawal Friday from the southern town of Daraa following a 10-day lockdown.
On Thursday hundreds of troops withdrew from Daraa, the epicentre of Syria's protest movement which erupted March 15.
"Throughout the night, they withdrew from Daraa and this is continuing today. The troops' departure is gradual," General Riad Haddad, the military's political department chief, told AFP.
He said 600 people were arrested in Daraa during the 10-day operation.
The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook group that has been a driving force of the protests, called for the "Day of Defiance" demonstrations, saying "Liberty is close."
Human rights groups say that more than 600 people have been killed and 8,000 jailed or gone missing in the crackdown on protesters since demonstrations erupted in mid-March.
The interior ministry issued a statement Friday urging citizens to refrain from taking part in any protests.
"The interior ministry calls upon citizens... to contribute significantly to stability and security... by refraining from engaging in any rallies or demonstrations or sit-ins," said the statement.
Friday's protests coincide with the Martyrs' Day public holiday in Syria, which Assad marked by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Damascus, according to the official news agency SANA.
In a concession that failed to dampen the protest movement, Assad decreed an end to five decades of emergency rule on April 21, but his forces have continued to use deadly force and carry out arbitrary detentions.
European Union ambassadors met in Brussels to fine-tune a range of punitive measures against Syrian official, including an arms embargo and a suspension of aid to Syria. The ambassadors agreed to impose sanctions on 13 Syrian officials and will look during further talks Monday at whether to also target Assad with an assets freeze and travel ban, diplomats added.
The new sanctions will come into force by Tuesday, they said.
The ambassadors agreed to "work without delay on additional restrictive measures against people responsible for violent repression against civilians, and in particular to look fully at including the highest level of the Syrian leadership on the list."
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have argued for a swift and clear message, while a handful of smaller EU states, including Cyprus, Portugal and Greece, were reticent over targeting Assad.
In New York, the United Nations said it would send a mission to Daraa after getting the go-ahead from Syrian authorities for a humanitarian team to enter the town.