DAMASCUS, Syria, April 9 (UPI) -- The Syrian government issued a stern warning to dissidents Saturday that they will face harsher treatment in the future.
A human rights lawyer who said she was in hiding told The Washington Post police fired on mourners at funerals Saturday for protesters killed in demonstrations Friday. Razon Zaitonah said she has been talking by phone to other activists.
"We are dying," she said.
Activists say at least 37 people have been killed since Friday in Daraa, a center of opposition to President Bashir al-Assad, and other cities. Zaitonah said the government had also cut off Internet service in Daraa.
The Interior Ministry released a statement to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, saying there is "no more room for leniency or tolerance" in dealing with disruption.
Assad has made some concessions since large-scale protests began in Syria. He has also made overtures to minority groups, restoring citizenship to thousands of Syrian Kurds who were stripped of it in the 1960s.
The ministry blamed the protests on foreign plotters.
Muntah al-Atrash, 70, a Damascus resident, said she had heard from Daraa that people injured in Friday's clashes had been killed by police.
"Even the Israelis didn't do that in our wars," she said, adding that Assad's ouster is "only a matter of time."
