protesters holding a banner saluting international news networks for their coverage of the unrest At least three protesters were shot dead in Syria despite an order from President Bashar al-Assad for security forces not to open fire on demonstrators, rights activists said. The continuing repression came as the government announced plans to launch a "national dialogue" in response to the anti-regime protests that have rocked the country since March 15.
The United States expressed its "outrage" over the crackdown and three US senators urged President Barack Obama to expand sanctions against top Syrian officials including Assad.
Britain also summoned the Syrian ambassador in coordination with other European nations, warning of "further measures" if it fails to stop the crackdown.
Activist Nawar al-Omar said Fuad Rajab, 40, was hit by a bullet to the head when security forces fired to break up a demonstration in the central city of Homs.
Ammar Qorabi, head of the Syrian National Organisation of Human Rights, said a second demonstrator was also killed in Homs and a third shot dead in the Damascus district of Qabun as security forces dispersed a demonstration.
In Hama, the army used batons, tear gas and water cannons to scatter anti-regime rallies, but protesters succeeded in ripping down a town hall portrait of the president, an activist said.
And in the southern flashpoint town of Daraa, security forces fired warning shots to disperse thousands of anti-regime demonstrators, another activist said.
The gunfire erupted as thousands of demonstrators took to Daraa's streets after weekly Muslim prayers, said the activist in the town that was the scene of a massive 10-day military operation that ended last week.
In Ibtaa, a small village near Daraa, protesters demanded a new president, according to amateur videos posted online.
Other videos showed rallies in Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, and the port city of Latakia, where demonstrators held up banners that read: "A dignified life, or death."
Thousands marched in the northern, mostly Kurdish regions of Qamishli, Derbassiye and Amuda, as well as in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, where security forces tore down anti-regime banners, activists told AFP.
After several days of sweeping arrests in protest hotspots, soldiers and security services were deployed in a massive show of force for the latest showdown with demonstrators across Syria
Louai Hussein, a writer and leading activist, said earlier the protests would go ahead as planned following the weekly midday prayers in mosques, after Assad's office promised him that security forces would not shoot at demonstrators.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Hussein said senior Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had "told me during a telephone conversation that strict presidential orders were given not to fire on the demonstrators."
"All of those who violate these orders will assume full responsibility," he quoted Shaaban as saying.
The army started on Friday to pull out of the coastal province of Banias where it deployed in force last week to curb anti-regime protests, Information Minister Adnan Mahmud said.Focus: UN agency suspends most Syria operations
"After having ensured a return of security, the army divisions have started a gradual withdrawal from Banias and its province," Mahmud said.
Mahmud also unveiled plans to launch a "national dialogue."
"A general national dialogue will start in the coming days in every governorate," he told reporters.
He said Assad had already met delegates representing several regions. "The president has heard their grievances and their opinions about what is going on in Syria," the minister said.
Presidential adviser Shabaan said the national dialogue will include topics of political pluralism, election and the media," Al-Watan, a daily close to the regime, reported.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said chances were narrowing for Damascus to respond to its people's demands for democracy.Focus: Syria withdraws UN rights council bid
"We continue to look at ways to apply pressure on the Syrian regime," Toner told reporters, expressing "our outrage" at the crackdown.
"We continue... to make the point that the window is narrowing for the Syrian government to make any attempt to address the legitimate aspirations of its people," he said.
Meanwhile Republican Senators John McCain and Marco Rubio, as well as Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, urged Obama to "expand sanctions immediately against those officials responsible for the dramatically expanded campaign of repression and violence in Syria, including Bashar al-Assad personally."
In London, Foreign Office political director Geoffrey Adams urged Syria to "stop the killing of innocent protesters immediately, and to release all political prisoners", a statement said.
A Foreign Office spokesman told AFP it was "part of a coordinated EU move" but did not say how many other countries were involved.
Syria has been rocked by two months of unprecedented popular protests inspired by revolts that ousted strongmen in Tunisia and Egypt.
Up to 850 people have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the protest movement emerged in mid-March, human rights groups say. The regime has routinely blamed the deadly violence on "armed terrorist gangs."