At least 8 people killed in protests after Friday prayers

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Damascus - Agencies Syrian security forces have opened fire on protesters in several parts of the country, leaving at least eight people dead, activists said. The deaths came as thousands rallied after Friday prayers against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Three people died from gunshot wounds in Douma, near the capital, Damascus, while an elderly man and two others were killed in the city of Homs, where security forces opened fire against protesters, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said. Two other fatalities were reported following protests in the coastal city of Latakia and in the suburbs of Hama. "Four people were killed in the neighbourhood of Sabaa" in the central city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Two elderly men were among the dead in Homs, where security forces opened fire at thousands of protesters streaming out of mosques after traditional Friday prayers, wounding at least 25 people, the Britain-based Observatory added. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist network opposed to Assad's government, also on Friday reported demonstrations calling for the end of the government in the Damascus neighbourhood of Qabun, which was rocked by shootings the previous Friday. And a curfew was imposed on the restive town of Rastan, 20km north of Homs, where security forces surrounded mosques in a bid to prevent people from attending Friday prayers, a rallying point for protests, the LLC said. In another area in Damascus’ countryside, Sakba, Syrian security forces circumvented several mosques to prevent people from attending demonstrations. Explosions were heard in Bab al-Siba’ al-Diraib neighborhoods in the central city of Homs. In Deir al-Zour people went to protest after Friday prayers. Pro-democracy activists had called for fresh Friday demonstrations under the banner: "The Syrian National Council is our representative, mine, yours and that of all Syrians." The fresh surge of violence came as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Assad will have to give up power if he fails to implement reforms acceptable to the opposition, and the Syrian regime again blamed "terrorists" for the unrest. Medvedev added that Russia will keep on stopping U.N. resolutions aimed at toppling countries’ leaders. “If the Syrian leadership is unable to undertake these reforms, it will have to go. But this is something that has to be decided not by NATO or individual European countries but by the people and leadership of Syria,” ITAR-TASS quoted Medvedev as saying. Syria will shortly present the United Nations with a list of more than 1,100 people it says have been killed by "terrorists" in ongoing unrest in the country, its deputy foreign minister said Friday. "Syria is grappling with terrorist threats," Faysal Mekdad said in a speech to the 47-state UN Human Rights Council at it reviewed the situation in Syria. "In the next few days we will give the High Commission for Human Rights a list of martyrs.....civil servants, police.....more than 1,100 people who have been killed by the terrorists," he said. "My country has suffered numerous threats of war over the last seven months: media war, disinformation, lies of all kinds and deception." The UN announced on Thursday that more than 2,900 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on anti-regime protests since March 15. Mekdad underlined recent reforms announced by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and municipal elections to be held on December 12. "We have welcomed our humanitarian partners and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)....which proves that we have nothing to hide," he said.  He also rejected criticism contained in draft UN Security Council resolutions that called for an international commission of inquiry into human rights violations in the country. The committee of experts is due to submit its report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the end of November.