DAMASCUS, Syria, March 27 (UPI) -- A top Syrian official said Sunday the government would lift the longstanding emergency law at an unspecified date.
Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Bashar Assad, told al-Jazeera the law that has been in place since the 1963 coup would be repealed sometime in the future.
The network said lifting the emergency law was a major demand of protesters who have been clashing with Bashar's authoritarian regime. Its removal would open up political and media freedoms.
Demonstrations by reformers and supporters of Bashar's government and the Baath Party have led to street violence and a growing number of dead and injured.
Syrian troops reportedly entered the port town of Latakia Sunday, deploying in areas where protests occurred Saturday, Israel Radio said.
Protesters used mobile phones to film the violence in Daraa Friday, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported. Locals said at least 25 people were killed and hundreds were injured in their town alone, the newspaper said.
Deaths were also reported in Homs, Latakia, Sanamein and Damascus. Exact numbers were not known. Amnesty International pegged the death toll nationwide at 55.
Foreign journalists have not been allowed to enter Syria, so reports from Syrians at the scene could not be verified.
