Seven killed, including boy, 13, after Assad mobilises pro-regime protests

Government supporters and opponents clashed in three Syrian cities yesterday and security forces opened fire, killing at least seven people including a teenager, activists reported.

The bloodshed came as President Bashar al-Assad's regime sought to counter a three-month-old uprising with mass demonstrations.

The Local Co-ordinating Committees, which track the Syrian protest movement, said a 13-year-old boy died when security forces fired on anti-government protesters in the main square of the central city of Hama.

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Three other people were killed in Homs, central Syria, and three in the Mayadin district in the eastern city of Deir el Zour during pro and anti-regime demonstrations. The two sides have clashed in the past, but Tuesday's bloodshed appeared to be the worst such violence.

"We are seeing an escalation by authorities," said Omar Idilbi, spokesman for the committees. "They are sending pro-government thugs along with security forces to attack protesters."

Tens of thousands of people waving flags and pictures of Mr Assad converged on squares in several cities yesterday, a day after he offered a vague plan for reform. Opponents took to the streets shouting "Liar!"

An eyewitness in Homs said a pro-Assad protest with some 10,000 participants "descended" on the city. "Nobody knows them, they are strangers to the city, they were asking for directions," he said. Anti-government demonstrators then emerged in Homs, gunfire broke out, and several people were killed and six wounded, he said.

"The security forces arrested the wounded. They stepped on them on the ground and arrested them," said the witness.

Activists claimed the government organised the pro-regime demonstrations, forcing students to take part and bussing in people from villages near the coastal town of Latakia.

In the northern province of Idlib, subject to an army push for days, activists said soldiers had reached Hamboushieh, a village a mile from where thousands of displaced Syrians were camped on the Syrian side of the Turkish border. Heavy shooting was reported in the area.

Tens of thousands of Syrians took part in yesterday's pro-regime demonstrations, shouting, "The people want Bashar Assad!" and releasing black, white and red balloons - the colours of the Syrian flag. The largest gathering appeared to be in Damascus, but Syrian state TV showed similar demonstrations in the northern cities of Aleppo and Latakia, Hasaka in the northeast, and the southern city of Deraa.

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Mr Assad's speech - and yesterday's pro-regime display - showed he intends to try to ride out the wave of pro-democracy protests, and continue the Assad dynasty's almost 40-year reign.

But the opposition seems also to be digging in. It estimates more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained as Mr Assad seeks to crush the protest movement that erupted in March, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.International pressure on Mr Assad has been mounting. Yesterday long-term ally Russia seem to back sanctions. Speaking in Paris Premier Vladimir Putin said:"We need to apply pressure on the leadership of any country where massive unrest, and especially bloodshed, is happening."