Syrian security agents make arrests

BEIRUT -- Syrian security agents tightened security and made sweeping arrests Saturday as president Bashar Assad tried to cut off two weeks of deadly pro-democracy demonstrations that threaten his family's ruling dynasty.

The death toll from the protests was about 80 people, including at least seven who were killed Friday in clashes with security forces. Authorities began arresting dozens of people, mostly in and around the capital, Damascus, in the hours after the demonstrations broke up and into early Saturday, activists said.

They asked that their names not be used for fear of reprisals.

The extraordinary wave of protests has proved the most serious challenge yet to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty, one of the most rigid regimes in the Middle East.

In the city of Douma, near Damascus, security forces were taking strict measures and checking identity cards of people trying to enter or leave, a resident said. At least five people were killed in Douma on Friday.

"Some shops are open but there is tension. Many people are staying home," the resident said on condition his name not be published for fear of government reprisals. "There are a lot of security patrols. I have never seen Douma like that."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the violence and called on Syria's government to address the "legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

The government blamed Friday's bloodshed on "armed gangs." However, the state-run news agency acknowledged for the first time that Syria was seeing gatherings of people calling for reform.