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Unrest escalates in Syria

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Demonstrations and protests in Syria on Friday broke out on a large scale, and have continued to escalate. Three demonstrators were killed on Friday as security forces fired live ammunition at protestors in the southern Syrian town of Dera’a, close to the Jordanian border. A day later, another man was killed after clashes at the funerals of those killed on Friday. More than 60 people are reported to have been injured. Protestors are reported to have burned the Ba’ath Party headquarters in the city. Marchers demanded an end to emergency laws that have been in place in Syria since the Ba’ath party seized power in 1963.

Dera’a has been declared a closed military zone. Opposition reports confirm that armoured forces have entered the city, under the command of President Bashar Assad’s brother, Maher. Other protests and demonstrations over the weekend took place in Damascus and the surrounding area, Homs, Der el Zor and the Kurdish city of Qamishli, close to the border with Turkey. Attention now is focused on Syria’s Kurdish minority, which is expected to join protests in large numbers in the coming days. The Kurds, who constitute between 10 to 15% of Syria’s population, suffer from discrimination at the hands of the authorities.