Thousands of protesters in towns across Syria defied a brutal government crackdown on Friday to commemorate the notorious 1982 massacre in the city of Hama that killed tens of thousands. In Hama’s central neighbourhood of Junub al-Malaab, security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least one and wounding three others, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Protesters emerged from Friday prayers in the port city of Latakia despite a menacing presence of forces who fired gunshots to disperse the crowds, the Observatory said, adding a similar demonstration was held in Yabrod, Damascus province. Under the slogan “Hama, forgive us,” regime opponents called for demonstrators to dress in black and to march in honour of the estimated 10,000 to 40,000 people who died in the massacre ordered by the father of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Observatory said six people were killed on Friday, including two children who died in an explosion near a cultural centre in Kfartakharim in northwestern Idlib region.
