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                <p>DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian security forces fired on thousands of demonstrators Sunday in the town of Daraa, killing one and wounding around 100, two of them critically, a rights activist at the scene said.</p>
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Daraa, south of the capital Damascus, has turned into a "volcano", the witness told AFP by telephone.</p>
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"A protester was killed today by live bullets. His name is Raed Akrad," he said, adding that two others wounded in the head were in critical condition.</p>
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Earlier he reported that more than 100 people were wounded when security forces fired live bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators who gathered in Daraa for a third consecutive day of protests.</p>
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"The army surrounds the town but it has not intervened," he said.</p>
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He said tensions were very high in Daraa and anger flared as a top-ranking government delegation arrived to pay condolences to families of demonstrators killed by security forces on Friday.</p>
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Rights groups have said that four protesters were killed on Friday while two of them were buried Saturday in Daraa.</p>
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Syrian authorities announced on Saturday the establishment of a commission of inquiry on the violence in Daraa.</p>
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The delegation included deputy foreign minister Faysal Meqdad, Local Administration Minister Tamer al-Hijjeh and senior security officer Rustom Ghazaleh, the activist said.</p>
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"The came to offer their condolences to the families of the protesters killed on Friday," the activist said, adding that protesters seethed with anger when they saw the officials.</p>
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"The protesters cried out: 'He who strikes his own people is a traitor,'" he added.</p>
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The protest began in the afternoon -- before the officials arrived -- with a march setting off from the Omari mosque, the witness added.</p>
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"The security forces backed by police fired live rounds at the demonstrators, numbering more than 10,000," the witness said.</p>
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"They are also firing tear gas mixed with toxic products," he claimed.</p>
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The latest casualties were being evacuated to the mosque, which has turned into a "field hospital," the activist said, declining to be named.</p>
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"There has been shooting in several parts of the city and there are clashes between protesters and security forces," backed by plain-clothes police, the witness said.</p>
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He also reported an unspecified number of arrests.</p>
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On Saturday security forces arrested dozens of protesters in Daraa, where thousands of people attended the funerals of Akram al-Jawabra and Hussam Abdelwali Ayash, two of the four protesters killed on Friday.
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Sporadic demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime have taken place in Syria since last Tuesday after calls on Facebook demanding greater freedom in the country, which has been under emergency law since 1963.
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As well as Daraa, they erupted on Friday in the capital Damascus, the coastal city of Banias and in Homs north of the capital.
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Protesters have been mainly calling for the release of political prisoners and reforms at a time of popular uprisings across the Middle East.</p>
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