'Patient & determined': Syrian death toll grows

At least three people have been killed as thousands take to the streets across Syria for protests against President Bashar Al-Assad's regime on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

Activists chose "patience and determination" as the theme for what have become “Friday custom” protests in the country for the last five months. The demonstrators marched in solidarity with a well-known political cartoonist, who was severely beaten by masked gunmen on Thursday. The man was left bleeding on the side of a road in Damascus with a broken hand after he published a cartoon showing President Al-Assad hitching a ride out of town with Colonel Gaddafi. The government explains that the crackdown on demonstrations is a fight against armed groups infiltrating the country from abroad. Some people confirmed to RT off camera that there are armed gangs in Syria. They have developed a strategy to follow the protesters and start shooting. The police then start to shoot back with the protesters stuck in between. Human rights groups say more than 2,000 people have been killed since the uprising against the country’s president erupted in mid-March.