On Monday, The Lede is following street protests in Syria, which have intensified throughout the day in the central city of Homs, following funeral for at least 14 people who were killed there on Sunday night.
6:17 p.m. | Updated According to a Syrian blogger who writes as Razaniyat on Twitter, the “sit-in in Homs is very organized. They’re not allowing anyone to enter [without] an ID.” A short time ago, though, the same blogger reported that some people had left the square because they were scared of Assad-supporting “thugs on motorcycles” who had arrived.
Razaniyat added that people at the sit-in “got scared” after Syrian state media reported that the protests in Homs and another city, Baniyas, were being organized by armed gangs of Islamic extremists.
Borzou Daragahi of The Los Angeles Times also reports that residents of Homs were scared of the Assad supporters who had arrived to confront the protesters:
One witness said security forces completely cut off Homs, closing roads in and out of the city as truckloads of plainclothes pro-government militiamen called shabiha arrived to face off against young men who had taken off their shirts to show they were unarmed,
“These shabiha are a criminal gang,” said Mohammad, who did not give his full name for fear of reprisal. He said he was among about 7,000 people in the city center Monday.
“The people are chanting for freedom and the overthrow of the regime — the regime that oppresses people,” said another Homs witness, who also declined to give his name due to safety concerns. “The people will not submit to this oppression.”
A short time ago, after 1 a.m. local time, a blogger who writes as SyrianJasmine on Twitter reported that there were still about 2,000 protesters in the square.
The Lede will return on Tuesday to continue following the protest movement in Syria. In the meantime, please visit the home page of NYTimes.com to read reports from my colleagues in the region.
5:26 p.m. | Updated A Syrian activist who writes as Shantal7afana on Twitter has uploaded photographs of the sit-in in Homs on Monday night to TwitPic.
“/>Shantal7afana, via TwitPic A “tent of national unity” in the central square in Homs.
Shantal7afana, via TwitPic Protesters in the central square in Homs on Monday night.The same blogger also posted a link to this video, of protesters in the square chanting for the an end to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad:
4:49 p.m. Update: Video and photographs posted online by activists in the city of Homs appear to show that thousands of protesters remained in a square in the center of the city after dark on Monday.
According to the activist who uploaded this video to YouTube, it was shot at about 9 p.m. local time in the New Clocktower Square in Homs:
In this brief clip, a large number of people in the square chant: “The People Want to Topple the Regime!”
An Egyptian activist who writes as Zeinobia reports on her blog that some Syrian activists are already referring to the site of the sit-in in Homs as Syria’s Tahrir Square.
12:10 p.m. Update: As my colleagues Liam Stack and David Goodman report, thousands of Syrians took to the streets of the city of Homs on Monday, chanting for the end of the Assad family dynasty during funerals for protesters killed there the night before.
At least 14 protesters were shot and killed by the security forces in Homs and the nearby town of Talbesa on Sunday, witnesses and rights activists said.
Video, apparently shot during and after Monday’s funerals in Homs, shows large crowds of angry mourners on the streets, chanting “the people want to topple the regime,” a slogan made familiar by revolutionaries in Tunisia and Egypt.
Video uploaded to the Web by Syrian activists appears to show protesters chanting for the downfall of the government during a funeral in the city of Homs on Monday.The same chant can be heard in this clip, along with another in which the protesters declare that they are “peaceful, peaceful, Muslims and Christians together.”
In this clip, marchers waving olive branches promise to bring down President Bashar al-Assad:
Wissam Tarif, a Syrian human rights activist, wrote on Twitter, “The protest taking place now in Homs is one of the biggest Syria [has] witnessed so far.”
Later in the day, Cal Perry, an Al Jazeera correspondent, reported on the social network: “Thousands of people have now started a sit-in, in the main Square in Homs.”
A Damascus blogger who writes on Twitter as Razaniyat uploaded a photograph of a tent being set up in the square.
This video appears to show prayers for the dead in the city’s New Clocktower Square on Monday evening:
This video is said to have been filmed earlier in the day, as the bodies of the protesters were brought out of a mosque in Homs:
These clips are said to show protesters marching in Homs after the funerals:
Some of Sunday’s events were also captured on video.
This clip, uploaded to the Web on Sunday, is said to show mourners in Talbesa taking cover as shots were fired during a funeral:
Mr. Perry, the Al Jazeera correspondent, reported earlier on Monday that Talbesa had been sealed off by the security forces.
These clips show protesters on the streets on Homs on Sunday night:
According to Syrian activists, this video was filmed recently in another town, Bayda, and shows members of the security forces gloating about the use of violence against protesters:
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