Dozens of security forces began raiding homes and arresting tens of activists on the outskirts of Hama, Syria, at dawn on Monday, an opposition activist and a human rights group said Monday.
Angry residents took to the streets and began throwing stones at the security forces that instigated clashes that ensued for several hours, said Omar al Habbal, a member of the Local Coordination Committees of Syria in Hama. The LCC is an opposition group seeking "freedom, democracy and a free country for all the people of Syria."
Rami Abdelrahman, president of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said security forces arrested 25 to 30 activists before residents went out and retaliated.
The city of Hama has been the scene of large demonstrations, and the outpourings there have been compared to the gatherings in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- where daily demonstrations earlier this year led to the removal of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The city was the scene of a brutal military crackdown targeting Sunni Muslims by the Alawite-dominated government of Hafez al-Assad, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's late father, in 1982. Thousands were killed.
Sunni Muslims are the dominant religious group in the country and Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Security forces withdrew from the center of Hama last month, and al-Aasi Square has been packed with protesters calling for the downfall of the regime.
Widespread protests in Syria began in Daraa and took hold across the country as government forces cracked down on peaceful demonstrations.
Abdelrahman, of the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, has said more than 1,360 civilians and more than 340 army and security forces have died in the violence.Human Rights Watch, the humanitarian watchdog, issued a report on Saturday elaborating on the crackdown in Homs, saying government security forces and their allies have killed at least 21 people there over the past two weeks.
The rights group said security forces have used clubs to beat demonstrators, "vandalized private property, and broken into homes where they suspected protesters had sought refuge. Security forces dressed in civilian clothes have detained protesters repeatedly, often travelling in taxis to approach and detain people."
International powers have condemned and sanctioned the Syrian government for its crackdown, and there has been talk by some observers that the International Criminal Court should investigate possible crimes against humanity by the government.
Amid the criticism, Syria has talked about reforms and has permitted opposition members to hold a meeting.
The government allowed about 200 activists and intellectuals, including some it had previously jailed, to hold a conference on democratic reform last week at a Damascus hotel -- the first such gathering allowed by the regime. The dissidents gathered in the hotel ballroom, including several signatories of a 2005 declaration that called for a democratic transition.
On Friday, government minders escorted international journalists to anti-government protests.
But international concern about the regime persisted.
Mark Toner, U.S. State Department spokesman, told reporters on Friday that the United States wants to see "dialogue and a transition process" and echoed President Barack Obama's statement that if al-Assad can't lead a reform process, "he should get out of the way."
Toner said the United States backs the "universal human right" of peaceful protests and the right of freedom of expression. He said "arbitrary arrests of innocent civilians" must end, political prisoners must be released, state-run media must stop incitement, and violence against peaceful protesters must end.
comment: The number of deaths in the anti-government demonstrations across Syria on Friday was 24, according to the Local Coordination Committees.
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