Syrian forces seal city after deadly clashes

BEIRUT: A prominent human rights activist in Syria says police have sealed a southern city where security forces have killed five demonstrators.

Mazen Darwish said that people are allowed out of Dara, but they can not come in he city residents who do not want their name published for fear of reprisals.

The funeral was planned Saturday at Dara after the Syrian security forces have launched a crackdown Friday on demonstrators calling for political freedom.

Accounts of social media and activists say at least five people died in the worst unrest in years in one of the most repressive states in the Middle East.

Sealing of the city seems to be a way to isolate the new troubles in Daraa.

Syrian security forces have launched a crackdown Friday on demonstrators calling for political freedom, killing at least five people and marking the most serious unrest in years in one of the most repressive states in the Middle East, according testimonies of activists and social media.
Mazen Darwish, a prominent activist in Damascus, Syria, said at least five people were killed when security forces tried to disperse hundreds of demonstrators in the southern city of Dara, near the Jordanian border. It quoted witnesses and hospital officials at the scene.

The violence happened Friday during one of several rallies across the country in Homs, Banias and the capital, Damascus. But this is only the event was fatal Daraa, Darwish said.

Serious disturbances in Syria would be a major expansion of the wave of protest tear in the Arab world for over a month following the pro-democracy uprising that overthrew the autocratic rulers of Tunisia and Egypt.

Syria, a predominantly Sunni country governed by Alawite minority, has a history of brutally crushing dissent - including a notorious massacre in which President Hafez Assad crushed a Muslim fundamentalist uprising in the city of Hama in 1982, killing thousands.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was concerned about the reported deaths in Daraa and stated that the use of lethal force against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable.

"The Secretary-General believes that, as elsewhere, it is the responsibility of government in Syria to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the people and addressed by reforms of the inclusive political dialogue and sincere, not repression," said his door- speech, Martin Nesirky.