Activist: 2 shot dead after funeral near Damascus

(CNN) — Syrian security forces stationed on rooftops shot and killed five demonstrators in a Damascus suburb on Saturday as thousands turned out across the country to mourn the deaths of dozens of protesters slain the day before, an eyewitness told CNN.

The witness said the incident occurred after funeral processions and burials in Douma, one of the towns where protests have erupted in recent weeks.

As thousands of people marched from the burial grounds towards the main hospital in Douma. security forces on the rooftops of government buildings fired shots.

“We were chanting ‘with our bloods with our souls we will sacrifice for you martyrs.’ And all of sudden and without warning, they fired indiscriminately into the crowd,” the witness said.

The witness said five were killed and others were injured. People fled the violence, but several hundred demonstrators remain in smaller alleyways and side streets awaiting the opportunity to come out and demonstrate again.

Activist Wissam Tarif, who is not in Syria but remains in contact with activists across the country, said he was told the forces were firing in the air and at random targets. His contacts told him more than 10,000 protesters took to the streets and that a couple of people were killed.

Another eyewitness told CNN that the assault Saturday in Douma occurred as thousands of people shouted “the people want to topple the regime” and “leave, leave,” an apparent reference to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The witness said there were casualties, but couldn’t say how many.

Tarif said there were reports of shootings in the city of Homs, but an eyewitness said the city is eerily quiet and many people are too scared to leave their homes.

There were burials of slain protesters but the funeral ceremonies were performed quickly and they were sparsely attended as if to not attract attention, the witness said.

There were gatherings in other cities, and reports of shootings in Izraa after noon prayers.

Friday’s killings occurred in several flashpoint regions as thousands of Syrian protesters defiantly marched after Muslims’ weekly prayers in a display of mass discontent toward the government.

Violence ripped through the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Moademy and Zamalka, and other cities — Homs, Harasta and Izraa.

Firm casualty figures were difficult to come by. The Syrian government does not permit CNN to report from inside the country and CNN bases its figures on reports from witnesses.

Tarif said activists have confirmed at least 84 deaths from Friday’s confrontations between protesters and security forces.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said a “group of people, some of them armed” assaulted guards in Izraa on Friday, leading to the deaths of eight and the wounding of 28, both from the group and the military.

Ted Kattouf, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, expressed admiration for the demonstrators’ courage, but made no predictions about where it might lead.

“Unfortunately, repression, if used repeatedly, ruthlessly, brutally, can work. We saw that in Iran and, I’m afraid, we could see it in Syria,” he told CNN’s “AC 360.”

The demonstrators do not have the critical mass needed to effect regime change, Kattouf said. He noted that massive demonstrations have yet to appear in Damascus or Aleppo, where millions of people reside, most of them Sunni.

Al-Assad is Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Alawite sect is a minority in Syria but it has maintained control of the regime for decades.

“There’s a coalition of interests here, and the demonstrations would have to get much, much larger and stretch the capacity of the regime’s security services to the point where some people thought about maybe making their own ways and abandoning Assad.”

Amnesty International, which reported at least 75 deaths on Friday, said two boys aged 7 and 10 and a 70-year-old man were killed and urged the regime to stop its attacks on “peaceful protesters.”

“The Syrian authorities have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

CNN’s Nada Husseini, Joe Sterling, Salma Abdelaziz and Samira Said contributed to this report