Thousands of Syrians took to the streets today demanding reforms and mourning dozens of protesters who were killed during a violent, week-long crackdown. The move has brought extraordinary pressure on the country's autocratic regime. There were no immediate reports of serious violence. Daraa, the main city of southern Syria's drought-parched agricultural heartland, has become a flashpoint for protests in a country whose leadership stands unafraid of using extreme violence to quash internal unrest. Today, demonstrations were planned in Daraa and throughout the country in what organisers called a Day of Dignity. After the Friday prayers in the village of Dael, near Daraa, men on motorcycles and cars honked their horns while several hundred men marched, some of them carrying Syrian flags. Plainclothes security agents watched without interfering. Scores of people were gathering in surrounding villages in what appeared to be preparation to march to Daraa. But Syrian soldiers deployed along the highway, apparently to prevent such a march.