Syrians try to imitate Tahrir Square protests

Reports from Syria say security forces have fired shots at thousands of protesters who had gathered overnight in the city of Homs.

A human rights campaigner is quoted as saying a member of the security police addressed the protesters through a loud speaker asking them to leave, and then the forces opened fire.

Earlier the Syrian interior ministry declared that the protests in the country now amount to armed insurrection.

The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones said protesters had been trying to imitate the movement in Tahrir Square, in Egypt.