Beirut - Syrian Police early Tuesday reportedly opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who had occupied a key place in the Syrian city of Homs earlier hours to demand the resignation of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
The shooting was the latest sign that the rebellion of anti-Assad months continues to grow.
Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news channel, reported that the demonstrators dispersed after the shooting. Chain report said at least two people were injured, but the number of dead and injured is perhaps higher. The chain said its correspondent reported that those injured were afraid to go to the hospital.
Protesters had said they planned the overnight camp in place, and thousands had gathered there Monday after a funeral for eight demonstrators who were killed in the city Sunday during clashes with the police.
Government restricted Assad a struggle between the brutal repression and attacks on demonstrators that left many analysts of events Syrians grip to explain if the response is an effort to curb the worst abuses of the regime or a sign of confusion within the Government on how to respond to a movement which appears to be intimidated.
Nadim Houry, an analyst based in Beirut to Human Rights Watch, which followed the Syria for six years, said he believes that confusion arose in part because the Assad regime has always been able to support that he left to the power guarantee stability in the volatile region. But continuous protests have questioned on this promise.
Add to the confusion, it is that every time that El-Assad offered the reforms, it was followed by a wave of repression.
"The Government is trying to negotiate, but the social contract (the promise of stability) is broken" Houry said. "And people have no reason to believe the promises of reform."
Video on YouTube of protests Sunday in Homs showed blood on the ground with the noise of machine guns and bullets. In another video, crowds of men along what appears to be a rural Street and crawl on the ground, as bullets whiz fresh General.
Monday, a YouTube video showed what purported to be the funeral of one of the demonstrators. The crowd, composed exclusively of men, chanted "one!" One! One! The Syrian people is a! ?
It is virtually impossible to authenticate the source of the videos. The Syrians that display online images remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the Government. Homs witnesses could not be reached for comment.
Assad recently promised that the Government would end soon the emergency law that allows him to stop and arrest citizens. Whenever he made the pledge, police followed by roving the streets and shooting protesters.
The Government has also announced it would grant citizenship to the Kurdish population, but this is widely seen as attempt to prevent the estimated Kurds live in the limbo to join demonstrations. Assad has also replaced half of his Cabinet, but he stacked with loyalists.
The result has been the only increase calls for demonstrations and more.
"People will not come back." People are, in the streets, every day, said Marah Bukai, founder and President of Al goods Institute of Humanitarian Studies in Washington.
"People are determined to obtain their freedom," said Bukai.
"This system does not meet the requirements of the population and particularly young Syrians." We ask for a change. We need to be a democratic country, led by a democratic system, "said Mazen Darwish, a militant in Damascus." "We need to see our developing countries, and a civilized country".
A group of the city of the South of Dara - where the protests first erupted he ya - one months, issued a statement that called for the repeal of emergency legislation, democratic elections, presidential term limit, freedom of expression and an independent judiciary.
On Saturday, Al-Assad delivered a speech in his new Cabinet promising the right urgency should be repealed less than a week, but it also means that dissent would not be tolerated.
"We will be not lenient towards sabotage," he told state television.
Human rights groups estimate at least 220 people died in the uprising of months, including eight Sunday.
Al-Assad, an ophthalmologist formed in Britain, came to power in 2001 following the death of his father, who led the country for almost 30 years. It has gained in popularity in the Arab world and Syria for appearing to take a stand against the West, including the United States and Israel, but has attracted the ire of Washington. The Obama administration nervously monitors the situation in Syria, which shares its borders with five U.S. strategic partners: Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.
(Bossone is corresponding special McClatchy.) (Cairo contributed Nancy a. Youssef and special correspondent Sabry Mohannad.)
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