DAMASCUS: Syrian security forces shot dead at least 34 people Friday, including a child, as pro-democracy protests swept the country, with demonstrators pressing on with calls for more freedom in defiance of a fierce crackdown, activists said.
U.S. President Barack Obama piled pressure on Syria, saying the situation was of “acute concern” for Washington and Israel – days after Syrian President Bashar Assad and key aides were hit by U.S. sanctions.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency and rights watchdog Human Rights Watch expressed concern about an influx of Syrians who have fled to neighboring Lebanon to escape the violence at home.
The child was among 12 people killed in the central city of Homs. Another 15 died in the town of Maaret al-Naaman, located near the western city of Idlib, the activists said.

They said two people were also killed in the southern region of Daraa, epicenter of protests that have gripped Syria since March 15, one in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, one in the port city of Latakia, two in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor and one in the central town of Hama.
“The victims in Maaret al-Naaman were gunned down at the entrance of the city where many people were converging from other nearby towns to join the protest,” an activist said.
Another activist in Homs said security services stormed a local hospital and carried away several wounded people along with the body of a victim.

State television blamed the violence on armed gangs which, it said, had opened fire on civilians and security forces in the region of Idlib and on the outskirts of Homs, resulting in unspecified casualties. Assad’s government has blamed the violence on “armed terrorist gangs” backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.
Protests were also reported in several other towns across Syria, including in Damascus where an activist said security forces quickly dispersed a rally outside a mosque.

In the mainly Kurdish region of Ain Arab, near the northern city of Aleppo, hundreds took to the streets holding olive branches and chanting “No to violence, yes to dialogue,” said Radif Mustapha, head of a Kurdish rights group reached by telephone.
“No one is calling for the downfall of the regime,” he said, as protesters could be overheard shouting “azadi, azadi,” or freedom in Kurdish.

In Banias, thousands of men, women and children marched, with many of the men bare-chested to show proof they were unarmed, Rami Abdel Rahman, of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
The accounts could not be independently verified as foreign journalists are prevented from traveling in the country to report on protests challenging Assad’s authoritarian regime.
In a keynote speech Thursday on the Middle East, Obama urged Assad to lead a political transition or “get out of the way.”

“President Assad now has a choice,” said Obama, whose government this week imposed sanctions on Assad and key aides. “The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests.”
Damascus defiantly rejected the warning. “Obama is inciting violence when he says that Assad and his regime will face challenges from the inside and will be isolated on the outside if he fails to adopt democratic reforms,” the official news agency SANA said.

Obama renewed the pressure Friday during talks with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outlining the U.S. sanctions against Damascus and saying Syria’s actions were an “acute concern” for Israel and the United States.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that some 1,400 Syrians fled to Lebanon last week alone to escape the violence at home.“Most of the people who have crossed the border in recent weeks are women and children. In addition to their immediate need for food, shelter and medical help, they also need psycho-social support,” UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said in Geneva.

Human Rights Watch said Lebanon should grant asylum to Syrians fleeing the unrest instead of detaining them “and above all refrain from deporting them back” to their country.
“Lebanon’s security forces should stop detaining Syrian refugees who cross the border into Lebanon to escape violence and persecution in their country,” the New York-based rights group said.
Rare support for Syria came Friday from Venezuela where President Hugo Chavez described Assad as his “brother” and said Syria is the “victim of a fascist attack.”

Meanwhile, Kuwait was among 15 nations elected Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council after Syria, under pressure over its crackdown on protesters, dropped its bid for an Arab slot on the controversial panel.