Protests in Syria mostly peaceful

QAA, Lebanon – Thousands of people held street rallies across Syria on Friday to protest the government of President Bashar Assad, the first test of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect Thursday. By most accounts, the cease-fire held.

Syrian security forces used tear gas and rifle fire to disperse some of the protests, according to anti-Assad activists, and activists told news agencies that the death toll for the day had reached 13.

But there was no use of heavy weapons or artillery, and the number of reported dead and wounded was far lower than in previous days.

An anti-Assad activist in the central Syrian city of Hama said three people were killed and more than 20 injured when security forces opened fire on demonstrators at a rally inside the city and at another at a nearby village.

But the activist, Samir al Husein, said there was no violence at a demonstration he had attended that involved about 1,000 people.

An activist reached by phone in Damascus who identified himself only as Mar estimated that more than 40 anti-Assad rallies had taken place in the capital – the largest number in three months, he said. Those, too, were largely peaceful.