...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
activists and witnesses said.
The casualties included three people in Qatana, a suburb of the capital, and four in the southern village of Dael, according to the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, which help organise the protests.
One person also was reported killed near the border with Leb.
The 10-week protests in Syria have evolved from a disparate movement demanding reforms to a resilient uprising that is now seeking President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneck
al-Assad'sOne of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
ouster. On Friday, protests erupted in the capital, Damascus,
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
and the coastal city of Banias, the central city of Homs and elsewhere.
Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been killed since the revolt began in mid-March -- a corpse count that has enraged and motivated protesters.
Many activists have been opting for nighttime demonstrations and candlelight vigils in recent days, aiming for a time when the security presence has thinned out.
"We refuse to let them sleep," 28-year-old Dael said of the security forces.
"We drive them crazy, as soon as they come to the neighbourhood we go quiet and they get lost. And then we start again when they leave," he told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
An engineer, who asked that his name not be used, said the protest started at 2am and was peaceful until security forces opened fire an hour later. He said three cousins from the same family were killed.
Since then, there has been a curfew in the town.
"I cannot stick my head out the window, if they see a cat they'll shoot at it," he said.
A witness in Damascus, who asked to be identified only by his nickname, Abu Moustafa, said up to 1,500 people were chanting for the downfall of the regime in the Qaboun neighbourhood. More than 20 buses carrying soldiers and security forces arrived on the scene, raising tensions, he said.
Also Friday, human rights activist Mustafa Osso said Syrian security forces shot up demonstrators in the northeastern town of Deir el-Zour, but it was not clear if there were casualties.