BEIRUT ? Tens of thousands of Syrians poured onto the streets of cities around the country after prayers on Friday to press their demand for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, apparently undeterred by concessions from a top member of Assad?s inner circle.
The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group that organizes the protests, said eight people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in four different locations. With reports of large-scale demonstrations continuing in several major cities, the toll could rise.
Demonstrations were staged in the towns of Homs, Hama, several suburbs of Damascus and the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, among other places, signaling that weeks of brutality have failed to dent the resilience of the protest movement.
Late Thursday, the government made an attempt to appease the opposition by announcing the resignation of the powerful tycoon identified by many Syrians as a symbol of their government?s corruption and nepotism.
Rami Makhlouf, Assad?s cousin and childhood friend, is relinquishing control over his business interests, Syrian state media reported. The Syrian state news agency, SANA, said he would sell his shares in Syrian companies and donate his wealth to charity. Makhlouf was motivated by a desire to create jobs and aid the economy, the news agency said.
Makhlouf, 41, controlled the country?s biggest mobile phone company, Syriatel, as well as multiple hotel, airline and construction concerns.
He is considered the head of a vast network of corruption and patronage that is despised by ordinary Syrians, including the thousands who have braved brutal crackdowns in order to participate in anti-government protests in recent months.
Even government supporters were said to be angered by an interview Makhlouf gave last month to the New York Times, in which he warned of chaos throughout the Middle East if the regime is brought down, and directly threatened the security of Israel.
Makhlouf is also regarded as one of Assad's closest confidants in an inner circle made up almost entirely of relatives and clan members. His resignation signals the first attempt at a significant concession to the opposition.
At the news conference, he announced ?that he will no more run any projects for personal profits and that he will dedicate himself for charity, development and humanitarian work,? SANA reported.
The move is unlikely, however, to satisfy the government's opponents, who have said they will accept nothing less than the outright departure of the Assad and his government. Rami Nakhle, a Syrian activist in Beirut, said the resignation was more likely to energize the protest movement, by signaling the first cracks in the government?s wall of denial.
?This will give them more confidence because it shows all their efforts are making a difference,? he said.
But he did not believe the move marked a genuine effort to address corruption or meet the demands for sweeping change. ?They?re just looking for a way around the people's anger, but it won?t make a difference to the Syrian system,? Nakhle said.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in the government?s crackdown against protesters.
On Friday morning, Syrian troops entered the town of Maarat al-Numan in northern Syria ahead of the planned demonstrations, in another indication that the government has no intention of relaxing its iron-fist policy.
Thousands of Syrians have poured into Turkey over the past week to escape the crackdown in the north. In recent days, troops have been deployed to two towns in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq.
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