BEIRUT/AMMAN/GUVECCI, Turkey: U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie traveled to Turkey’s border with Syria to meet refugees Friday, while inside itself Syrian security forces fired on thousands of protesters killing a teenage boy and at least 15 other civilians.

Jolie was greeted by a 15-meter banner that read: “Goodness Angel of the World, Welcome” in English and Turkish. Others shouted “Down with the Syrian regime.” Crowds gathered on the balconies to catch a glimpse of Jolie, who is noted for her humanitarian work and paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan in March to visit refugee camps.
The refugees later formed a cortege behind a coffin bearing the inscriptions “The community of Arab States,” and “the conscience of Russia and China,” – a reference to all the countries opposing a U.N. resolution condemning the repression in Syria.

They also held up banners calling Syrian leader Bashar Assad a “killer of children,” and urging the world to protect the northwestern flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur, where an army crackdown has fueled an exodus to the Turkish border.

But the visit was overshadowed by the protest at the Yayladagi camp, which holds several thousand refugees and is one of five tent cities set up by the Red Crescent in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay. Turkish authorities have barred all outside access to the refugees staying in the camps.
“They are protesting the lack of visits, their inability to protest against the Damascus regime and the absence of outside contacts,” said an anonymous Syrian dissident in Turkey. The source also reported incidents of violence against refugees by Turkish guards.
Earlier Friday, Turkish authorities said the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey had reached 9,700 after 1,200 arrived overnight.

Inside Syria, security forces shot dead 16 people when they fired on protesters demanding the removal of President Assad, activists said, and European powers said Damascus should face tougher sanctions for the violence.
Tens of thousands of people rallied across the country, defying Assad’s military crackdown and ignoring a pledge that his tycoon cousin Rami Makhlouf, a symbol of corruption, would renounce his business empire and channel his wealth to charity.

The worst bloodshed was in Homs, where activists said eight protesters were killed and state television said a policeman was killed by gunmen. One person was also reported killed in the northern commercial hub of Aleppo, the first to die there since unrest erupted in the south of the country in March.

Friday prayers have provided a platform for the biggest protests in the three-month uprising, inspired by revolts which have overthrown the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and challenged autocrats across the Arab world.
Activists said tens of thousands of people protested in the southern province of Deraa where the revolt against Assad’s rule began, as well as in the Kurdish east, the city of Hama north of Damascus, and across several suburbs of the capital itself.

Two northern towns were also encircled by army units, residents said, five days after the military retook the rebellious town of Jisr al-Shughour and sent thousands of refugees streaming across the nearby border into Turkey.
Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians and more than 300 soldiers and police have been killed since the protests broke out in March against 41 years of rule by the Assad family, and 10,000 people have been detained.
Assad faces international condemnation over the violence, and has seen the first signs of cracks in his security forces after a clash in Jisr al-Shughour earlier this month in which the government said 120 security personnel were killed.

There have been no mass desertions from the military, but analysts say it is unclear how long the loyalty of rank and file Sunni Muslim conscripts will last if the crackdown on mainly Sunni protesters continues.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that France and Germany had agreed to lobby for stronger sanctions against Syria for “unacceptable actions and repression” of protesters.

Damascus is already subject to targeted U.S. and European Union sanctions against its leadership, and EU nations have been preparing a fresh round of sanctions aimed at companies and banks, according to European diplomats.
But France has been unable to rally support at the U.N. Security Council for a resolution condemning Assad’s crackdown, in part because of reluctance from veto-holding council members China and Russia.
“I believe there is a realization that force is being used against the people in a way that is not acceptable,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Sarkozy. “Therefore both of us will talk to Russia in our own ways to [ensure] we are successful.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle spoke to his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim, urging a clear response by the Security Council to the violence in Syria, German Foreign Ministry sources said.
A witness in the Damascus suburb of Irbin said protesters burned a Russian flag to protest against Moscow’s stance.