AT LEAST NINE people have died in Syria in the past 12 hours as security forces clash with anti-government protestors, activist groups in the Middle Eastern country said today.
This afternoon, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria emailed us this shocking video from the Daraya suburb. It seems to back up activist claims that security forces opened fire on peaceful protestors in Damascus.
According to Al Jazeera’s live blog, the nine deaths include three people in Homs, two in Damascus and one in the coastal town of Latakia. The LCCS sent the news agency a list of the victims’ names.
Video footage of the protests appears to back up activists’ claims that today’s protests are the biggest in Syria since the unrest began 15 weeks ago. Civilian videos and photographs emerging from Hama, Idlib and Latakia today seems to be the most verifiable yet.
This one from Hama, where activists claim over 300,000 people have turned out, shows a purple sign which reads, "Long live a free Syria. Fall down Bashar".
Since last week, Sky News reporters have been allowed into the capital city of Damascus to report the events of the uprising. They are the first foreign journalists allowed into the country since the unrest began in March. In an interview earlier this afternoon, they heard from Opposition leaders who now believe they can win the fight for the country’s freedom.
Today’s massive demonstrations come after activist groups rejected reform proposals that would allow Assad to remain in power.
Here are some of the images being uploaded to Twitter and Facebook throughout the day by civilian photographers and activist groups: