Protests brand Assad a liar

Pro-democracy protesters took to the streets to call president Bashar Assad a liar over his claim that "saboteurs" were causing the unrest that has swept the country since March.

There were mass demonstrations in the northern province Idlib, the cities of Homs, Hama and Latakia in central Syria, the southern town of Daraa and the Damascus suburb of Arbeen.

Security forces were rounding up protesters who are demanding an end to the Assad family's 40-year rule. In the city of Aleppo students who joined the previous night's protests were being arrested, Syrian activists said.

Human rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 detained. Syrian officials took foreign diplomats and journalists to where they say the bodies of eight policemen were buried in a rubbish dump near Jisr al-Shughour. Thousands of Syrians today demonstrated in Damascus in support of the president.