document: US condemns Syria crackdown , presses Assad for reform Witnesses , human rights groups say 9 killed in protests throughout Syria ; police reportedly open fire , shoot tear gas at demonstrators . WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday condemned Syria 's violent crackdown on anti-government protesters and urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to promptly take concrete steps toward meaningful reform . '' `` The Syrian government has an important opportunity to be responsive to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people , '' '' Jay Carney , spokesman for US President Barack Obama , said in a statement . '' `` Violence is not the answer to the grievances of the Syrian people . '' '' Syrian security forces killed nine protesters across the country Friday during anti-government protests , Arabic news daily Al-Arabiya reported citing witnesses and human rights activists . Syria 's state news agency acknowledged for the first time that worshippers in Deraa and Latakia , scene of protests and deadly clashes last week , had gathered after Friday prayers to call for accelerated reforms . '' `` A number of worshippers left some mosques in the cities of Deraa and Latakia , chanting slogans in honour of the martyr and calling for speeding up measures for reform ... There were no clashes between worshippers and security forces in these gatherings , '' '' SANA said . Witnesses in the Damascus suburb of Douma said that three of those killed were among at least 2,000 people who chanted '' `` Freedom . Freedom . One , one , one . The Syrian people are one , '' '' when police opened fire to disperse them from Municipality Square . Two weeks of unprecedented unrest in Syria has left more than 60 dead and posed the gravest challenge to almost 50 years of monolithic Baath Party rule . Earlier , civic activists said protest marches had begun in the capital Damascus , Banias and the port city of Latakia against Assad 's authoritarian rule after he stopped short of a clear commitment to meet popular demands for more freedoms . Security forces and Assad loyalists attacked protesters with batons as they left the Rifaii mosque in the Kfar Sousseh district of Damascus after Friday prayers , a witness said . At least six protesters were arrested and dozens were beaten as they made their way out of the mosque , the witness told Reuters by telephone from the mosque complex . Around 200 worshipers chanted slogans in support of the southern city of Deraa where the unrest kindled by pro-democracy uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world first erupted . Online democracy activists had called for protests across Syria on '' `` Martyrs ' Friday '' '' , after a spate of pro-democracy demonstrations challenging Assad 's 11 years in power . His father , Hafez al-Assad , had ruled over the previous 30 years . Activists said security forces and Assad loyalists had earlier gathered in force around the mosques where protests resumed after Friday prayers . In his first public appearance since the demonstrations began , Assad declined on Wednesday to spell out any reforms , especially the lifting of a 48-year-old emergency law that has been used to stifle opposition and justify arbitrary arrests .
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