Deaths reported in Friday protests in Syria

Security forces said to have killed 20 protesters as anti-government demonstrations rock the country.

At least 20 people have reportedly been killed in Syria, as mass protests are being held across the country.

Deaths were reported in the central city of Homs and the southern city of Azraa.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Damascus calling for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, according to reports received by Al Jazeera.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets for rallies on what activists have dubbed "Great Friday", in what they say could become the biggest protests against the government to date.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reported from Damascus, which until now has been relatively calm, that the level of tension in the city on Friday marked a new high.

"It wasn't a big protest, and it was dispersed very quickly, but the security presence was very heavy," she said.

"The level of violence has really escalated," she said, referring to use of force by security forces across the country.

A witness told Al Jazeera that demonstrators gathering at a mosque after prayers in Hasakah in the mainly Kurdish northeast were attacked by pro-government protesters.

Syrian activists co-ordinating mass protests against al-Assad's rule have demanded the abolition of Baath Party monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system.

In the first joint statement since protests erupted five weeks ago, the Local Co-ordination Committees, representing provinces across Syria, said "freedom and dignity slogans cannot be achieved except through peaceful democratic change".

"All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law," said the joint statement.

On the eve of the protests, witnesses said security forces were setting up checkpoints in areas surrounding Damascus, checking people's ID cards.

The demonstrations are a test of whether Assad's decision to lift emergency law, imposed by his Baath Party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago, will defuse mass discontent with repression and corruption.

"We are determined on totally peaceful protests... we rejoice at the downfall of the state of emergency. It was not lifted, it was toppled... With the help of God, we will embark on freedom," a comment on a Facebook page run by activists said.

Yet Amin said that because one of the conditions for the newly-gained right to protest was to request a permit, today's protests fell outside of the changes.

"There was no time for anyone to ask for permission for today," she said.

Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power in Syria.

More than 220 protesters have been killed since pro-democracy protests erupted on March 18 in the southern city of Daraa, rights campaigners say.

A decree Assad signed on Thursday that lifted emergency law is seen by the opposition as little more than symbolic, since other laws still give entrenched security forces wide powers.

Human Right Watch said Assad "has the opportunity to prove his intentions by allowing [Friday's] protests to proceed without violent repression.

"The reforms will only be meaningful if Syria's security services stop shooting, detaining, and torturing protesters," Joe Stork, the group's deputy Middle East director, said.

The authorities have blamed armed groups, infiltrators and Sunni Muslim armed groups for provoking violence at demonstrations by firing on civilians and security forces.

Western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings in Syria for fear of destabilising the country, which plays a strategic role in many of the conflicts in the Middle East.

Syria is technically at war with Israel but has kept its Golan Heights front quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.

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