Syria Kills 32 Protesters After Obama Calls on Assad to Quit

Syrian security forces killed at least 32 protesters and arrested more than 300 people after U.S. President Barack Obama, in concert with European allies, called on Bashar al-Assad to step down.

At least 27 people died today in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, the Homs governorate and Daraa, where the revolt against Syria’s president began in mid-March, said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. Five were killed yesterday at rallies in the Damascus suburbs and across the country, according to Qurabi and Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. State media said four security forces members were killed by militants in Daraa.