Syrian forces vow to supress 8216;armed revolt8217;,fire on protesters

'We have been waiting for 11 years for reforms,' said a demonstrator.

Syrian security forces on Tuesday fired on a mass protest of thousands in the city of Homs demanding the fall of the regime,hours after the authorities vowed to suppress an 8220;armed revolt8221; in the country.

8220;The sit-in was dispersed with force. There was heavy gunfire,8221; an activist reached by telephone in Damascus said,without being able to give details of possible casualties.

He said the security forces very early Tuesday swarmed into Al-Saa Square,where some 20,000 people were staging a mass sit-in,scattering protesters who had vowed not to leave until President Bashar al-Assad stepped down.

The action came just hours after the government late on Monday vowed to suppress 8220;armed revolt8221; it said was undermining security in the country.

8220;The latest incidents have shown that armed Salafist groups,particularly in the cities of Homs and Banias,have openly called for armed revolt,8221; said an interior ministry statement carried by the official SANA news agency.

It accused such groups of killing soldiers,policemen and civilians,and of attacking public and private property,and warned that 8220;their terrorist activities will not be tolerated.8221;

The authorities 8220;will act with determination to impose security and stability in the country8221; and will 8220;pursue the terrorists wherever they are in order to bring them to justice and end the armed revolt8221;,it said.

Story continues below this ad

The demonstrators arrived in their thousands at Al-Saa Square on Monday,many setting up tents,a day after 11 people were killed by security forces in Homs and a nearby town during a day of massive nationwide protest.

Inspired by popular uprisings which toppled hardline rulers in Tunisia and Egypt,the protesters vowed not to leave Al-Saa Square in the centre of Homs until Assad8217;s regime fell.

They dismissed as insufficient a weekend pledge by Assad that he would lift nearly five decades of draconian emergency law and demanded the release of all political prisoners and an end to arbitrary arrests.

8220;More than 20,000 people are taking part in the sit-in at Al-Saa Square Clock Square and we have renamed it Tahrir Square like the one in Cairo,8221; rights activist Najati Tayyara had earlier said from Homs.

Story continues below this ad

The sit-in protest was a copy of demonstrations in Egypt,which forced out veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February after 18 days of protests in Cairo8217;s emblematic Tahrir Square.

8220;It is an open-ended sit-in which will continue until all our demands are satisfied,8221; Tayyara said.

8220;This despotic regime must change. We have been waiting for 11 years for reforms,8221; said Tayyara of the 11-year rule of Assad,who succeeded his autocratic father Hafez following his death in 2000.