Syria: Funerals held for dead protesters
Protests took place across Syria after Friday prayers - and authorities cracked down Funerals are being held in Syria for many of the scores of protesters killed during anti-government demonstrations on Friday.
Large crowds are expected to attend the funerals, raising fears of further bloody confrontations.Unconfirmed reports say shots have been fired at some funerals.
Friday's bloodshed, a day after President Bashar al-Assad scrapped decades of emergency rule, brought strong international condemnation.
US President Barack Obama accused Syria of using "outrageous" force.
Syria's state news agency has reported a limited number of protests in some provinces and described the violence was the work of armed criminal gangs.
On Saturday, Reuters news agency quoted witnesses as saying tens of thousands of people turned out at funerals in Damascus and the southern village of Izraa, and shouted chants calling for the overthrow of the regime.
More than 150 buses had left the southern town of Deraa, an epicentre for demonstrations, to attend funerals for 18 victims, AFP news agency quoted an activist as saying.
Funerals were also expected in the Damascus neighbourhoods of Midan and Barzeh, as well as in Harasta, north of the capital.
'Brutal tactics'
Friday's death toll was the highest in a single day in five weeks of unrest.
Human rights groups and activists gave death tolls ranging from just over 70 to more than 90, and one group said the death toll could reach 100.
Many of the deaths were reported to have occurred in the central city of Homs, in Izraa in the south, and in a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
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The issue of the video footage has definitely rattled and upset the regime, and they are hitting back with allegations that the whole thing is a put-up job.
I think the protesters are getting quite organised and maybe distributing better cameras as well. Certainly it's very impressive that within half an hour of a protest beginning the pictures start flowing.
I think quite a few of them are using international SIM cards in their mobile phones so that they can get around any attempts locally to block communications.
The state is responding to that with statements coming on the official news agency saying that these are fake videos that the army found people carrying bottles of blood in order to make up fake incidents which they would then film and distribute pictures of.
Analysis
I think the protesters are getting quite organised and maybe distributing better cameras as well. Certainly it's very impressive that within half an hour of a protest beginning the pictures start flowing.
I think quite a few of them are using international SIM cards in their mobile phones so that they can get around any attempts locally to block communications.
The state is responding to that with statements coming on the official news agency saying that these are fake videos that the army found people carrying bottles of blood in order to make up fake incidents which they would then film and distribute pictures of.
Video footage showed protesters scattering as they apparently came under fire.
Amnesty International said two boys aged seven and 10 were among those killed in Izraa."This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now," Mr Obama said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an independent investigation into the killings, while France said it was "extremely concerned" and condemned the violence.
"Light should be shed on these crimes and those responsible must be identified, arrested and brought to justice," foreign ministry deputy spokeswoman Christine Fages said.
Growing confidence
The BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from neighbouring Lebanon that the crowds across Syria on Friday are proof, if any was needed, that Mr Assad's concessions were belated and too symbolic.
The persistence of the demonstrations shows the growing strength and confidence of the protest movement, she says.
With foreign journalists unable to get into Syria, much of the reporting of the country has depended on footage distributed by opposition activists.
The official Syrian news agency said security forces had used only tear gas and water cannon to prevent clashes on Friday.
It said the army had found digital cameras containing short, fabricated videos depicting fake repression, and that armed gangs were carrying bottles of blood to be used in making fake films
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