Four people have been killed in the Syrian town of Douma, a witness told Al Jazeera, after security forces on the ground and snipers on rooftops opened fire on a crowd of thousands of mourners gathered to bury protesters killed on Friday.
Army and security personnel also shot at mourners at a funeral procession in the southern town of Izraa. Eyewitnesses told Al Jazeera that five people had been killed there, four of them after having been shot in the chest. Several others were wounded.
The eyewitness in Douma said that the gunfire erupted during the processions on Saturday, in the largest of the towns that surround Damascus to the northeast. Eight people were killed and at least 25 injured in Douma when security forces fired upon pro-democracy protesters on Friday.
Snipers on Saturday had taken up positions on the top of a Baath Party building in the vicinity of the privately-run Hamdan Hospital, where residents had overnight formed a human shield around the main gate, in order to prevent security forces from arresting those who were injured and being treated inside.
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered across the country on Saturday to attend funeral processions for the more than 75 people who were killed during the deadliest day of protests in the country since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad first began five weeks ago.
In protest of the violence, two Syrian politicians have resigned from parliament.
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