By Katherine Marsh in Damascus, Guardian.co.uk, April 8, 2011

Anti-government demonstrations have spread across Syria with the highest turnout yet in a month of unrest, despite a heavy crackdown by security forces in which at least 20 people died.

The most violent clashes took place in the city of Deraa, where the unrest began. At least 17 people are said to have been killed, with witnesses saying ambulances were prevented from reaching the scene.

A man who helped carry the dead and wounded to hospital said he had seen security forces shooting live ammunition. "My clothes are soaked with blood," he told the Associated Press, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

By Friday night the death toll around the country was rising, with activists reporting that more and more citizens were taking to the streets....

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Deadly Violence in Syrian Protests
By Liam Stack and J. David Goodman, New York Times, April 8, 2011

CAIRO —Gunfire erupted after prayers in the city of Dara’a on Friday as security forces across Syria moved to counter protests....There were conflicting reports of the number of dead in the town as well as who was shooting.

Wissam Tarif, director of a Syrian human rights group, said a doctor and medical student in Dara’a told him that 18 protesters had been killed in the clashes. Nine were shot in the head, he said. A Facebook group monitored by human rights activists in Syria said 24 had been killed in Dara’a and another 20 wounded.

Syrian state media said it was 19 security officers who had been killed and blamed gunmen who “opened fire on a group of citizens, security forces and police as worshippers left Friday prayer.” But video footage reportedly from Dara’a showed several dead and wounded men, none in uniforms.

The clash began as security forces on the bridge tried to keep two groups of protesters from joining together, the resident said. Chants of “Peaceful, peaceful!” rose through clouds of tear gas and the sounds of gunfire.....