Thousands protest in restive city of Hama
8 July 2011 Last updated at 13:57 GMT
Hama was the scene of a brutal crackdown by the government in 1982Tens of thousands of people are taking part in an anti-government protest in the Syrian city of Hama, activists say.
Organisers have called on demonstrators to express their total rejection of the government's decision to hold a national dialogue conference on Sunday.
Earlier, the US and French ambassadors visited Hama to show their solidarity.
Syria's interior ministry said the US envoy had met several "saboteurs" and denounced the "direct and unacceptable interference" in its internal affairs.
Tanks were deployed on the outskirts of Hama last weekend after the central city witnessed the largest protest since anti-government demonstrations began in March.
At least 22 people in Hama have since been shot dead by security forces.
'Incitement'Despite the crackdown, people once again took to the streets of Hama after noon prayers on Friday, demanding the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and rejecting an offer of dialogue, activists and witnesses said.
Rami Abdul Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP news agency as many as 450,000 people were taking part.
One witness told the Associated Press that many protesters were carrying olive branches and chanting: "We only kneel to God".
The US and French ambassadors to Syria, Robert Ford and Eric Chevallier, travelled to the city on Thursday as acts of solidarity, but left before Friday's protests began, according to officials in Washington and Paris.
But the Syrian interior ministry said Mr Ford's visit, for which he did not seek the permission of the authorities in Damascus, was an act of incitement.
"The ministry wondered at the US ambassador's arrival in Hama contrary to the diplomatic norms and despite the roadblocks set up by the saboteurs to prevent citizens from reaching their jobs," state media quoted the ministry as saying.
The ministry said Mr Ford had met "a number of the saboteurs and incited them to more violence and protest and to refuse dialogue".
It added that the ambassador, "under the cover of visiting some hospitals", had met other people in an attempt to encourage further violence and instability, to sabotage national dialogue, and to deepen discord and sedition among the Syrian people "who strongly reject and condemn such foreign instigation".
Hama was the scene of a brutal crackdown in 1982 ordered by Hafez al-Assad, the president's late father, which left at least 10,000 dead.
There were also mass demonstrations in other towns and cities across the country on Friday.
Activists said three protesters were killed in Maarat al-Numan, a town not far from the restive north-western town of Jisr al-Shughour.
At least one person was also killed in the central Damascus district of Midan, and another died in the nearby town of al-Dumair, they added.
Human rights activists say more than 1,300 civilians and 350 security forces personnel have been killed across the country since March.
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bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14083087
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