Crowds have set fire to the courthouse and other buildings on a third straight day of demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
Residents said one person was killed and scores injured when security forces used live rounds against protesters. Witnesses said dozens were also taken to be treated for tear gas inhalation at the main Omari mosque.
Thousands took to the streets on Sunday, calling for an end to corruption and 48 years of emergency law and to protest the killing of five civilians in a similar demonstration two days earlier.
The headquarters of the ruling Baath party was set ablaze as well as two phone company branches. One of the firms, Syriatel, is owned by President Bashar al-Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, who is under specific US sanctions for what Washington regards as public corruption.
"They burned the symbols of oppression and corruption," an activist said. "The banks nearby were not touched."
Friday's protest was fuelled by the arrest of 15 schoolchildren detained for writing pro-democracy graffiti inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
The children were arrested in Daraa earlier this month after graffiti appeared on school walls and on grain silos with phrases such as "the people want the overthrow of the regime".
[Comment: What kind of regime arrests school children ? they have been detained for over a week. Only Israel had a history of arresting children. This is vulgar and obscene, with all respect to the Resistance in Lebanon, what this regime does to its people CAN NEVER BE EXCUSED, WHITE WASHED or RATIONALIZED simply because they allowed missiles to go to Hizbullah from Iran. It is time to stop the Bull shit and call this dictatorial regime out. Shame on whoever supports the Arab uprising and is either silent or minimizing what is taking place in Daraa/Syria...]
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