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More than 50 people have been killed since Saturday in central Homs, activists have said, accusing the regime of sowing sectarian strife among the city's Christian, Sunni Muslim and Assad's Alawite minority community.
More than 1.2 million Syrians demonstrated in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor and Hama in the north, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP in Nicosia.
"More than 1.2 million people marched: in Deir Ezzor there were more than 550,000, and in Hama more than 650,000," he said.
In Homs, more than 25,000 people gathered in Al-Ulu park in the mostly Sunni Muslim Al-Khalidiyeh neighbourhood, the Syrian Organisation of Human Rights said.
Security forces used violence to disperse demonstrators with deaths reported in Homs, in Syria's second city Aleppo, in Idlib near the Turkish border and around Damascus, activists said.
"Two demonstrators were knifed to death outside the Amneh mosque in Aleppo by pro-regime militiamen who stormed the mosque and attacked worshippers," said Abdel Karim Rihawi.
A third demonstrator was killed in Aleppo and dozens more wounded or arrested, said Rihawi who heads the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
In Homs, "two protesters were shot dead by security forces" dispersing demonstrations in Al-Khalidiyeh and in Duwar al-Fakhoura, Rihawi said.
A sixth protester was killed by security forces in Kfar Ruma, in Idlib province, he added.
Two demonstrators were also shot dead in the Mleiha region of greater Damascus "when security forces opened fire," and several others were wounded, Abdel Rahman said.
Homs has spearheaded dissent against Assad and his regime since pro-democracy protests erupted on March 15 and Friday -- the weekly day of rest and key Muslim prayers -- has been a day of major demonstrations.
The army had entered Homs in May to suppress calls for the fall of the regime, and swept through the city this week, arresting "armed men" and confiscating "stockpiles of weapons," according to a pro-government daily.
The newspaper Al-Watan on Wednesday reported an "uneasy calm" across Homs "after top quality operations by the army."
On Friday troops still besieged several neighbourhoods, including the central district of Bab Sebaa, activists said, adding that sharpshooters lay low on rooftops.
Demonstrators in Hama, a city north of Damascus with a bloody past, chanted slogans "in favour of national unity and against sectarianism," and also called "for the fall of the regime," Abdel Rahman said.
Memories in Hama remain strong of a 1982 crackdown by the president's father, Hafez al-Assad, against Islamists that left 20,000 people dead.
In Deir Ezzor near the border with Iraq, "daily sit-ins are taking place calling for the fall of the regime," Abdel Rahman said.
Syrian television denied that more than a million people had come out to protest, saying that only "about 2,000 people took part in Friday's demonstration in Deir Ezzor."
The reports of numbers could not be independently verified.
Thousands of protesters also marched in Damascus, despite a clampdown ahead of Friday's prayers.
Around 5,000 people thronged the neighbourhood of Midan and thousands more emerged from three mosques in Hajar al-Aswad chanting pro-freedom slogans, activists said.
Abdel Rahman told AFP that troops and security forces barricaded the district of Rukneddin, isolating the mostly Kurdish-populated neighbourhood, and Qabun district.
"Thousands of security officers are patrolling and conducting searches of homes and making arrests," he said.
France on Friday condemned the Homs clampdown, with the foreign ministry spokesman saying the army should protect the people rather than "sow terror."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "appalled" by the killings of civilians and the "brutal violence in Homs", saying the people have been calling for change and Assad "must listen to them."
According to the Syrian Observatory 1,483 civilians are now confirmed dead in the government's crackdown on dissent since mid-March, while the violence has also claimed the lives of 365 troops and security forces.
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More than 1.2 million Syrians demonstrated in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor and Hama in the north, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP in Nicosia.
"More than 1.2 million people marched: in Deir Ezzor there were more than 550,000, and in Hama more than 650,000," he said.
In Homs, more than 25,000 people gathered in Al-Ulu park in the mostly Sunni Muslim Al-Khalidiyeh neighbourhood, the Syrian Organisation of Human Rights said.
Security forces used violence to disperse demonstrators with deaths reported in Homs, in Syria's second city Aleppo, in Idlib near the Turkish border and around Damascus, activists said.
"Two demonstrators were knifed to death outside the Amneh mosque in Aleppo by pro-regime militiamen who stormed the mosque and attacked worshippers," said Abdel Karim Rihawi.
A third demonstrator was killed in Aleppo and dozens more wounded or arrested, said Rihawi who heads the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
In Homs, "two protesters were shot dead by security forces" dispersing demonstrations in Al-Khalidiyeh and in Duwar al-Fakhoura, Rihawi said.
A sixth protester was killed by security forces in Kfar Ruma, in Idlib province, he added.
Two demonstrators were also shot dead in the Mleiha region of greater Damascus "when security forces opened fire," and several others were wounded, Abdel Rahman said.
Homs has spearheaded dissent against Assad and his regime since pro-democracy protests erupted on March 15 and Friday -- the weekly day of rest and key Muslim prayers -- has been a day of major demonstrations.
The army had entered Homs in May to suppress calls for the fall of the regime, and swept through the city this week, arresting "armed men" and confiscating "stockpiles of weapons," according to a pro-government daily.
The newspaper Al-Watan on Wednesday reported an "uneasy calm" across Homs "after top quality operations by the army."
On Friday troops still besieged several neighbourhoods, including the central district of Bab Sebaa, activists said, adding that sharpshooters lay low on rooftops.
Demonstrators in Hama, a city north of Damascus with a bloody past, chanted slogans "in favour of national unity and against sectarianism," and also called "for the fall of the regime," Abdel Rahman said.
Memories in Hama remain strong of a 1982 crackdown by the president's father, Hafez al-Assad, against Islamists that left 20,000 people dead.
In Deir Ezzor near the border with Iraq, "daily sit-ins are taking place calling for the fall of the regime," Abdel Rahman said.
Syrian television denied that more than a million people had come out to protest, saying that only "about 2,000 people took part in Friday's demonstration in Deir Ezzor."
The reports of numbers could not be independently verified.
Thousands of protesters also marched in Damascus, despite a clampdown ahead of Friday's prayers.
Around 5,000 people thronged the neighbourhood of Midan and thousands more emerged from three mosques in Hajar al-Aswad chanting pro-freedom slogans, activists said.
Abdel Rahman told AFP that troops and security forces barricaded the district of Rukneddin, isolating the mostly Kurdish-populated neighbourhood, and Qabun district.
"Thousands of security officers are patrolling and conducting searches of homes and making arrests," he said.
France on Friday condemned the Homs clampdown, with the foreign ministry spokesman saying the army should protect the people rather than "sow terror."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "appalled" by the killings of civilians and the "brutal violence in Homs", saying the people have been calling for change and Assad "must listen to them."
According to the Syrian Observatory 1,483 civilians are now confirmed dead in the government's crackdown on dissent since mid-March, while the violence has also claimed the lives of 365 troops and security forces.
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