Syrian forces killed at least 32 civilians on Friday, including 23 in the capital Damascus,
in an intensifying crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.
It was the highest death toll in the central neighbourhoods of Damascus
since the uprising erupted four months ago in the southern Hauran Plain near Syria’s border with Jordan.
“Tens of thousands of Damascenes took to the streets in the main districts for the first time today,
that is why the regime resorted to more killings,” said one activist by telephone from Damascus.