Syria Live Blog - April 22

Syria Live Blog - April 22

• Timestamp: 

  11:08pm

  Visit our Syria spotlight page for more in-depth coverage of the protests.
  

• Timestamp: 

  11:00pm

  At least 75 people reported dead in bloodiest day of uprising so far as "Great Friday" demonstrations rock towns across country.

• Timestamp: 

  10:52pm

  Watch all the citizen videos that captured the Syrian uprising here. 
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  10:00pm

  Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reporting from Damascus.
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  9:25pm

  Writer Robert Fisk spoke to Al Jazeera earlier:

• Timestamp: 

  9:07pm

  A witness from Izraa told Al Jazeera about what happened there earlier:" After Friday prayer around 2,500 protesters went towards the square, its called 'al Mahata square', when we got there the army and the security forces opened fire at us and about 20 people died and we many injured.
  
  "The injured are being treated in the mosques and people are donating blood there.
   
  "People came from neighbouring towns, Nawa and Harir and they were gunned down too by the army and security forces.
   
  "Massacres happened today in Izraa and it was done by the army, I am in shock, so many dead so many martyrs."

• Timestamp: 

  9:05pm

  At the Al Rahman mosque in Hajjar al-Aswad, a poor neighbourhood on the southern edge of Damascus, Imam Abu Bilal led evening prayers to mourn six local men killed by security forces. One of them was his own son. Weeping over the Quran, the Imam pledged to rally large numbers to the streets tomorrow.  

  Hajjar al-Aswad is near Yarmouk, which is home to many Palestinian refugees and people from the Golan heights.

  It started with 200 to 300 young men originally from the Golan demonstrating in front of the police station. Some of the teenagers started throwing stones and security started shooting back at their heads," said Omar, a shopkeeper from the neighbourhood.

  "One of those killed was from a Bedouin tribe from the Golan and then the people became angry and the protest grew to 4,000, witnesses said. The mosque told us the names of six people killed and then within half an hour all the residents of Hajjar al-Aswad were on the street.  All the young men, all the women, all the teenagers. We are a tribal society here. Now there are tens of thousands waiting to take the bodies of those killed from the hospital, but the security refused to hand them to their families."

• Timestamp: 

  8:40pm

  A doctor from Madamia, a Damascus suburb, tells a journalist working with Al Jazeera: 

  There are four people killed and about 50 wounded and we cannot take them to the public or private hospitals. At Daraya hospital security were shooting and arresting people. So I have been treating people inside homes. It is very hard to treat the wounds because many have been shot in the head.

  "I can tell you now, the situation in Madamia will never be calm. Today is an historical day for the country. There is now a new strategy to kill all the protesters, not even arrest them."

• Timestamp: 

  8:26pm

  Another video which appears to be from Homs today:

• Timestamp: 

  8:22pm

  Three cars transporting seven wounded protestors to a hospital in Homs have been hijacked by security personnel between Deir al-Alba and Homs, a rights activist has told Al Jazeera.

  "I was in contact by mobile phone with one of the drivers," said Wissam Tarif, director of Insan, a human rights organisation. "When I last spoke to Raed Mehran he told me that they were approaching a checkpoint and he hung up."

  All seven protesters from Deir el-Alba, a village near Homs, had suffered gunshot wounds, said Tarif. Overnight security and army had deployed in and around Homs, which became a focus of protests this week.

  Tarif said he also spoke to a second driver, Fayez Mohamed: "He said one of the injured in his car had lost consciousness and that there was blood everywhere and they were driving really fast."

  "I think they have been kidnapped by security forces," said Tarif. "We have documented cases of security kidnapping the injured and the corpses of martyrs in many places in Syria. It happened in Douma and in Baniyas and in Daraa."

  "We do not know where they are or how they are. It is beyond arbitrary detention. It is people being kidnapped. In many cases injured people are being kidnapped. And we do not know if any medical attention is provided or not."

• Timestamp: 

  7:55pm

  A witness told Al Jazeera a short while ago that Moadamia, a Damascus suburb, is surrounded from all directions and military has entered the city. 

  He said four people were killed and that gun fire could still be heard. 

   

• Timestamp: 

  7:40pm

  Activists have compiled a list of 68 people killed in protests today, including from Moadamia (8), Homs (15), Douma (8), Izraa (15), Zamalka (5), Harasta (3), Barzeh (2).

• Timestamp: 

  7:32pm

  This video from Deir ez-Zor has been verified by our sources. It shows protesters burning a statue of Basel al-Assad, the president's brother who was killed in a car accident before the death of former president Hafez al-Assad. He had been widely viewed as his father's successor.

• Timestamp: 

  7:23pm

  Activist Suhair Atassi reports that a 4-year-old girl has been shot in the head by a sniper in Barzeh district in Damascus.

• Timestamp: 

  7:19pm

  Syrian State TV has ongoing live talk show, with incoming phone calls.

  They are talking about incitement by foreign media, including Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and BBC Arabic.

  A little earlier, the channel reported that a policeman was killed in Homs and two injured. 

• Timestamp: 

  7:17pm

  Hazem, an anti-government activist in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, says demonstrators there were marching in peace until security forces opened fire. 

  "Demonstrators were going with olive branches, it was peaceful," until they were "surprised by live ammunition from some security forces in one of the flats of the street."

  "After this started throwing of teargas, live ammunition in the streets," he added. 

  Five were killed, in addition to large number of injured - "some of them very dangerous cases," Hazem said.  

• Timestamp: 

  7:02pm

  Al Jazeera's Rula Amin just spoke to an eyewitness in the Damascus suburb of Douma. "He was yelling and almost crying". The witness said security forces were shooting randomly at people and that security forces were trying to take bodies away from the hospital.

  Activists say at least 40 people have been killed in various cities.

  "We're not able to get to these places, we have limited access. In many areas we can't even get through on the phone," Amin said..

  "Syrian TV has reported some violence.

  "There were rumours that protesters would try to bring the protest to the heart of the capital, to Abasyeen Square. I went there earlier today and the amount of security forces there was incredible, some in plainclothes, some carrying guns, some with sticks."

• Timestamp: 

  6:55pm

  A viewer sent us a link to this video, saying it's in Homs and filmed today. More than a dozen people are said to be killed in the city after security forces opened fire.

• Timestamp: 

  6:28pm

  More details on the protest in the conservative Damascus district of Midan earlier today:

  "During prayers the imam of the mosque told worshippers that 'whoever does this killing, God will have his revenge upon.' After prayers had finished up to 3,000 protestors marched towards the local police station calling for the downfall of the regime," an eyewtiness told Al Jazeera, adding that security forces used teargas and electrical rods to brek up the protest.

  "Our regime is the most brutal and scary in the Middle East," one of the protesters said. "It has no values and can easily kill its own people. Rather than firing bullets they should open their eyes and their hearts to the Syrian people."

• Timestamp: 

  6:20pm

  At least three deaths confirmed in Barzeh district in Damascus.

• Timestamp: 

  6:07pm

  Heavy gunfire is now being reported in Homs. An eyewitness said he saw many people trapped among buildings in the neighbourhoods of Bayada and Bab Amar unable to move because of snipers on roof tops.

  The witness reported he had seen four dead bodies in the city and his car was shot at while passing through a security checkpoint carrying the wounded to a private clinic. 

• Timestamp: 

  5:35pm

  In the northern Syrian cities of Qamishli and Amouda, about 6,000 to 8,000 mainly Kurdish demonstrators chanted for freedom and their rejection of sectarianism. "Syrian people are one," they chanted, holding up signs reading, "Arabs and Kurds are brothers". 

  As protests spread, President Assad recently granted citizenship to up to 300,000 Kurds made stateless by a 1960s census, but some demonstrators said the move meant little without greater freedom. 

  No army or security forces intervened in the protest, 

  "A few weeks ago I was oppressed with no nationality,"Mohammed, one of the protesters in Qamishli said. "But now I’m oppressed with an ID card. We want freedom. This is not an issue of citizenship, but an issue of being a citizen."

• Timestamp: 

  5:23pm

  Writer and Middle East commentator Robert Fisk spoke to Al Jazeera a short while ago about the situation in Syria and about the recent reform pledges by President Bashar al-Assad.

  Once you start giving these concessions, the crowds on the streets want more and it'll always end at the same demand: end of the dictator.

  "In a sense Bashar al-Assad is now enduring the failures that he committed 11 years ago.

  "He's in a lot of trouble and there must be a lot of talk in the Presidential Palace tonight."

• Timestamp: 

  5:13pm

  A doctor at Izraa hospitial says there are 10 bodies at the hospital and he believes more are kept at people's homes. It's a small hospital and cannot cope with the high number of injured, he says.

  One body of a man from Izraa is also at Daraa hospital, we're told.

   

• Timestamp: 

  5:06pm

  Abu Yousef, in Daraa, says thousands of people have demonstrated in the city, calling on the regime to step down and for more freedom. Many came from villages around the city.

• Timestamp: 

  5:02pm

  Different reports on casualties continue to emerge and we cannot independently verify them.

  A local activist citing an eyewitness says five people have been killed by security forces in a large demonstration in Zamalka, a town in the countryside surrounding Damascus.

  Activists have also reported six protesters killed in Hajar al-Aswad, a poor neighbourhood in central Damascus, four in Qaboun, a suburb to the north of Damascus, and one in neighbouring Harasta.

  The death toll in Douma has risen to three, according to an activist speaking to witnesses.

• Timestamp: 

  4:56pm

  Picture said to be taken in Baniyas today, distributed by activists:

  

• Timestamp: 

  4:49pm

  A protester in the damascus suburb of Harasta says security forces have blocked all the main roads to prevent people from gathering and communicating. 

  There was around 1,500 protesters. As soon as we started to gather in the main road around 3pm they started to attack us by using brutal force, including live ammunition. Four people were injured and arrested by the security forces. People have dispersed now and are hiding in the small streets because the security forces are hunting for people."

• Timestamp: 

  4:46pm

  Latakia resident Mustafa tells Al Jazeera that the security forces have divided the city into three parts, to prevent people from meeting. They've built road blocks to separate the city and arrested people as they came out of Al Rahman mosque in the centre. 

  From what he knew, there'd been no use of live ammunition in the centre, but there were reports of live bullets being used in Kenanes street in the northeast of the city.

• Timestamp: 

  4:24pm

  Activists are reporting up to 14 people killed in Homs alone.

• Timestamp: 

  4:20pm

  25-year-old protester Mohammed Bassam al-Kahil has been shot and killed by security forces in Homs, according to activists.

  An eyewitness described how a group of around 200 protesters, moving ahead of the main group of around 3,000 protestors, came under fire as they marched down Cairo Street, close to the Clock Square that has been a focal point for protests in the strategic central city.

  "Suddenly the security opened fire on us randomly," he said.

  The demonstration had begun with protesters gathering in different locations across the city rather than by the Grand Mosque where a heavy security presence had been deployed overnight.

  There was no accurate number for those injured in the attack, the activist said, as heavy gunfire was continuing. 

  The eyewitness said the attack had succeeded in breaking up the demonstration but that protesters would attempt to regroup once the firing stopped.

• Timestamp: 

  4:13pm

  Reports of a first protester killed in Damascus city.

• Timestamp: 

  4:04pm

  Our correspondent Rula Amin says she's hearing that tens of thousands of people are heading towards the town of Azraa and that serious clashes are expected in the where seven people are already said to have been killed. 

  She also says security is tight in Damascus, where a small protest was held but quickly dispersed. "I've never seen this city like this before."

   

• Timestamp: 

  4:01pm

  Demonstrations are taking place in different neighbourhoods of Latakia, a port city that has traditionally been a stronghold of government support.

  The family of former president Hafez al-Assad was from the town of Qardaha in the Latakia province and many of the country's minority Alawites, which is the Muslim sect the president belongs to, live in villages in the mountainous coastal region. 

  Several witnesses said the army has shot into the air, but not at the protesters. The city’s main square is under control by a heavy military deployment. 

  The imam of a local mosque speaking to a trusted activist said: "There is no problem between Alawites and Sunnis. The problem is loyalty to the regime."

  A woman who wished to remain anonymous said that two of her sons were detained during previous crackdowns on protests, while one had disappeared.

  "We want our children back," she said. "People here are terrorised and we fear for our lives."

• Timestamp: 

  3:53pm

  More reports of casualties: One killed in Baniyas, seven killed in Azraa, 30km from Daraa, two killed in Damascus suburb of Douma, clashes still going on.

• Timestamp: 

  3:45pm

  Video said to be from the Kiswe district in Damascus:

   

• Timestamp: 

  3:41pm

  An estimated 10,000 people took to the streets of Hama today, according to trusted local sources, only the second and by far the largest protest to take place in the city.

  An eyewitness said protesters were calling for the fall of the regime and "God, Syria, freedom, only". "This is not 1982 anymore," said the witness, referring to the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982. "We want dignity and freedom." 

• Timestamp: 

  3:37pm

  Daraa, the first city in which major protests erupted, is today witnessing the biggest anti-regime demonstrations so far with tens of thousands of protesters on the streets, according to eyewitnesses taking part.

  “People are chanting that they want to topple the regime and release of prisoners of conscience,” a witness, speaking to a trusted local activist, said. His brother had been killed by security forces three weeks ago during a protest.

  “We will never forget the blood of the martyrs,” he said “The regime used fear and then more fear. Now we want freedom from fear.” 

  Activists say at least 80 protesters have been killed in Daraa since the protests began five weeks. There are no reports yet of security forces intervening in today's protests.

• Timestamp: 

  3:34pm

  At least five people have been reported injured in the Damascus suburb Douma. A witness told Al Jazeera that security forces opened fire on protesters when the crowd attempted to march out of the town to join protestors in nearby Harasta.

  Both riot police and plain clothes security shot at protestors around one hour into the demonstration as well as firing tear gas, causing many to choke. The witness said he had seen one sniper on the roof of the private Al Nour hospital.

• Timestamp: 

  3:15pm

  Online activists in contact with people in Syria tell Al Jazeera that one person has been killed in Homs and two in Azraa near Daraa. As there is no standard transliteration for most towns in Syria, we cannot yet confirm whether this refers to the same deaths as were reported earlier in Adroua.

  As other media organisations, Al Jazeera has limited access to Syria and we cannot independently confirm the reports we're getting.

• Timestamp: 

  2:59pm

  Sources tell Al Jazeera that two people have been killed in a town called Adroua (spelling unclear) near Daraa but this is yet to be confirmed. We're also told ten people have been injured in Harak in the south, near Daraa.

• Timestamp: 

  2:56pm

  Reports of protests and injuries in Hama.

  In the so-called Hama Massacre in 1982,  the army cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood in the city to quell an armed revolt. The crackdown was ordered by former president hafez al-Assad and about 20,000 are said to have been killed. 

• Timestamp: 

  2:45pm

  This video uploaded today is said to be filmed in Baniyas.

• Timestamp: 

  2:38pm

  Unconfirmed reports that gunshots have been heard in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

  Reports that security forces break down a demo in Aleppo and witnesses say about 100 people protest in Raqqa, in the northeast. Also demonstrations reported in Baniyas and many other places, we'll be posting some videos shortly.

• Timestamp: 

  2:30pm

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry says a protest in Damascus has been broken up. He can smell teargas from his hotel in the centre of the city.

• Timestamp: 

  2:24pm

  An activist in Douma tells Al Jazeera that thousands of people have gathered around Municipality Square, now renamed Freedom Square, shouting, "The people want the fall of the regime." 

  Plain clothes security and the military have set up checkpoints on roads leading in to Douma and are allowing only residents through, but have not yet entered the town centre to prevent protests.

  The witness said he had spoken to several demonstrators who had come to Douma from nearby districts of Irbin and Harasta yesterday to avoid the roadblocks.

  Separately a witness to the Douma protest said people had not accepted the lifting of emergency laws as meeting their demands for change.

  "We do not trust this government and the credibility of all officials has been shaken. Our demands go further than lifting emergency laws: We want the whole constitution to be changed and Article 8 removed [that gives the Baath Party the right to rule state and society]. And we want the release of all political prisoners."

• Timestamp: 

  2:17pm

  More from Al Jazeera's interview with Reem Haddad, spokeswoman for the ministry of information: 

  "I think if the people protest peacefully, if they cause no harm, if they don't burn or destroy, I think [security forces] will allow them to do so, and I think after a certain time they will actually disperse them, tell them to go home."

  Responding to the question at what point forces would open fire on protesters, she says: "If they are shot at, which has been the case previously. About 40 people from the army and security have been killed ... and after they've been killed their bodies have been mutilated.

  About claims by rights groups and activists that about 220 protesters have been killed, she says: "I want the names, and addresses, and telephone number and then I will verify it."

   

• Timestamp: 

  2:04pm

  Protest also reported in Zabadani, a mountain town outside Damascus, with slogans calling for the overthrow of the regime. 

• Timestamp: 

  1:59pm

  Reuters quote witnesses saying that security forces use teargas at protest in the Damascus district of Midan.

• Timestamp: 

  1:46pm

  A witness in Hasakah says three protestors have been injured by government supporters who attacked and beat the protesters for around 45 minutes following the end of Friday prayers. The injured were initially prevented from reaching hospital, he said, by the government supporters, which included local Baath Party officials.

  The witness also said a crew from Syrian state television had been at the scene to film the large pro-government rally.

• Timestamp: 

  1:40pm

  An eyewitness tells Al Jazeera that about 500 peaceful protesters in Hasakah are being attacked by government supporters. The protest is taking place near the Grand Mosque and protesters have been surrounded by government supporters, according to the witness.

• Timestamp: 

  1:24pm

  We're getting reports of a demonstration in Qamishli. An email update from Suhair Atassi, a prominent rights activist in Damascus, says 5,000 people have gathered, including Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians.

• Timestamp: 

  1:14pm

  Reem Haddad, the spokesperson for the Syrian information ministry, says she thinks peaceful protests will be allowed, but says she thinks they will eventually be dispersed and asked to go home, as people now have to apply for permission to protest.

  She questions reports that 220 protesters have been killed, and in an interview with Al Jazeera, she says she wants "names and phone numbers" so she can verify this.

  She says 40 members of the security forces have been killed, and that if protesters "shoot at security forces again", they could respond with fire.

• Timestamp: 

  1:09pm

  Al Jazeera's Cal Perry says Damascus is 'incredibly quiet' because the secret police "isn't operating secretly at all". He says they're at every street corner, "suffocating the city".

  He says Homs is "basically under siege", with army in and around the city.

• Timestamp: 

  12:36pm

  A lawyer in city of Hasakah, in the mainly Kurdish northeast, was detained by security yesterday after applying for permission to hold a peaceful demonstration, his fellow lawyer Louai Mustafa Osso.

  Osso said Fadel Salim Faisal was detained by airforce security after requesting permission from the governor.

  The arrest came just hours after President Assad signed a new law granting citizens the right to apply for permission to hold demonstrations.  

  Faisal wanted to adhere to the new law by applying for permission, but didn’t expect it to be granted. 

  "The government say they are reforming, but they are still just prioritising security. People don't trust the government and this case proves them right."Faisal was detained at 7pm and released at 1am,and was "mistreated in their custody", Osso said, without going into details about the alleged mistreatment.

  Faisal has been accused of "communicating with foreign services" and "participating in and organising violent demonstrations," charges which Faisal denies.

   

• Timestamp: 

  12:25pm

  These are some of the cities where protests have been held in recent weeks. The first major demonstrations were held in Daraa, where many of the casualties have occurred. Baniyas and Homs have become other major flashpoints. 

  

• Timestamp: 

  12:12pm

  Al Jazeera's Rula Amin just tweeted that security is tightened around Daraa but no army or other security branch deployed inside the city. 

• Timestamp: 

  11:58am

  Today is "Good Friday", the day Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But churces in Syria have decided to cancel street processions and public music performances because of the expected protests, Bishop Philoxenos Mattias of the Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarchate in Damascus told The Daily Telegraph yesterday. 

  All of the Syrian churches have decided this together because of the bad situation and because of the martyrs who have died in recent days, out of respect for them."

• Timestamp: 

  11:47am

  If you're in Syria and have pictures from today, please send them to yourmedia@aljazeera.net

• Timestamp: 

  11:19am

  Syrian plain clothes security and military have set up checkpoints in areas surrounding Damascus, checking ID cards of people travelling in and out, activists talking to Al Jazeera say, citing eyewitnesses.

  The deployment appears to be a move to head off any attempt by large numbers of protesters from flashpoint suburbs, such as Douma, from marching on the capital as happened last Friday.

  Security was deployed in Douma, Harasta, Al-Tell, Irbin, Joubar, Daria and Mudamia, according to the local witnesses.

  Security forces have also been demanding to see ID cards of residents in the capital walking through main squares,  two witnesses say.

• Timestamp: 

  11:10am

  A resident in Homs, giving her name as Sara, tells Al Jazeera that security forces were deployed in the city yesterday, and are still there, standing behind sand bags. "They allow everyone to pass but they are there just to horrify protesters," she says. 

  She was taking part in Monday's sit-in in the Clock Square:

  At around 8pm, the security forces started threatening us that if we don’t leave they were going to shoot us. No one obeyed them and we stayed. We kept on receiving threatening warnings that we should leave, but the protesters stayed. At 1:50am, while the protesters were sitting peacefully, a messenger from the security force said that we have only half an hour to leave or else they will start shooting. At this point, the organisers along with some religious leaders said it was safer and better if we leave for they were worried about the children and women."

  Sara then left the square. Afterwards, witnesses say about 20 protesters were killed when security forces opened fire.

  When I came back to the square [the day after] I saw the blood on the ground."

• Timestamp: 

  11:01am

  This video uploaded yesterday is said to have been filmed on April 19, after activists said security forces cracked down on protesters in the Clock Square. The clocktower can be seen in the background, and the video is said to show members of the "shabeha", which are the "thugs" blamed for much of the violence. In the video, they're waving sticks and chant the pro-Assad slogan "God, Syria, Bshar, only".

• Timestamp: 

  10:50am

  Our correspondent in Damascus, Cal Perry, says the capital is tense, with security forces in both uniform and plainclothes. "All armed, some with guns - some with sticks."

• Timestamp: 

  10:30am

   

  Visit our Syria spotlight page for more in-depth coverage of the protests.

  For recent updates, you can check out the live blog from yesterday, April 21.