Amateur footage has surfaced appearing to show Syrian security forces beating protesters in Barzeh, a Damascus district three miles (five kilometres) from the city centre. The pictures were filmed by a group calling itself Ugarit News on Friday. Defying government guns, thousands of Syrian protesters poured down city streets and a main highway that day to press demands for President Bashar Assad's ouster. Activists claimed security forces opened fire, killing at least 15 people, including two children. Five people were killed by security forces' gunfire in Barzeh, according to the Local Coordination Committees, which track the protests.