Syria: Protesters plan 'Great Friday'

Thousands turned out Wednesday for a protest in Daraa, the city in southwestern Syria where protests against the government started five weeks ago.

Human rights groups said other demonstrations occurred at the University of Damascus, Aleppo University and in Banias, a town near the coastal city of Latakia.

Though the protests were relatively small, they defied an Interior Ministry warning, issued a day earlier, that the government would not tolerate protests under any pretext.

Organizers of what is being called "Great Friday" said security forces were already deploying in hopes of dampening the turnout for far bigger demonstrations called for later this week.

The demonstrations Friday may serve as a referendum of sorts on the declaration by President Bashar Assad's government that it would repeal the emergency laws in place since 1963.

"People don't trust the regime anymore," said Haithem Maleh, a former judge and an often imprisoned human rights activist in Damascus. "I don't think that the Syrian people are going to stop before they bring down this regime."

The Arab League delayed its annual summit meeting yet again, a decision that was not unexpected given the turmoil sweeping the region.

The meeting, originally scheduled for March in Baghdad, had already been delayed until mid-May. Now, Arab foreign ministers will meet on May 15 to consider a new date.

"Iraq was and still is ready to hold the Arab summit," said Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We do not insist that the summit should be held on a specific date, but it is important to hold a successful summit involving a sufficient number of Arab leaders to make important decisions."

With violence intensifying in Yemen, frustration with the Obama administration's inaction is building among activists and political opposition leaders.

Many of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's opponents believe the United States should apply more pressure to bring his 32-year rule to a swift end.

"The American administration has been too slow to act," said Khaled al-Anesi, a human rights lawyer and activist. "Until now, we have not seen a firm public stance. They don't have to wait until thousands of us are killed."

For several weeks, the United States has been pushing behind closed doors for a peaceful transfer of power and has denounced the violence in Yemen. But publicly the administration continues to send mixed signals.

The Pentagon still expresses doubts that a post-Saleh government can effectively combat Al-Qaida's regional offshoot or fend off potential influence from Iran. The State Department has yet to publicly demand regime change, even though U.S. officials acknowledge privately that Saleh is no longer capable of leading Yemen.

"The international community needs to freeze his accounts and stop all means of support for him," said Tawakkol Karman, a key architect of the uprising. "They need to deal with him as an illegal regime."

NEWS SERVICES