The Butchering of Muslims in Syria by the Secularists Funeral Imges

Syrian cities on Friday, including in Latakia where injuries were reported [Reuters]

Thousands gathered to attend the funerals of those killed in Syria's recent violence, while a local rights group accused state security forces of committing a crime against humanity, following the violent deaths.

People chanted freedom slogans after assembling for the mass funerals near the old Omari mosque in the old quarter of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday.

The National Organisation for Human Rights said that 37 people were killed during Friday's demonstrations across the country.

In Daraa, the centre of the protests, 30 people were killed. Three more people died in the central city of Homs and three in Harasta, a Damascus suburb, as well as one in Douma.

"Probably the protests yesterday were the most widespread since they began less than a month ago," Al Jazeera's Rula Amin said from the capital Damascus.

"People [in Daraa] are telling us thousands are expected to take part in the funerals of those who were killed and they insist on their version of events that it was the security forces who shot at their sons."

Residents in the Sunni district of Latakia also said security forces used live ammunition in the early hours of Saturday to disperse a pro-democracy protest by hundreds of people there.

"What is happening in Syria is a flagrant violation of [human rights]," the National Organisation for Human Rights said in a statement.

"The Syrian security committed [in Daraa] what could be called a crime against humanity ... It fired indiscriminately on protesters and killed and wounded tens of them."

The group listed the names of the dead in Daraa.