Pressure on Syrian president grows after deadly crackdown

In the latest violence, security forces killed a student yesterday during a protest at Damascus University in the capital, bringing the death toll to well over 170.

The US, UK, France and Germ- any demanded an immediate end to the bloodshed, and their criticism marks a turning point because many states have so far held back on condemning President Bashar Assad outright, instead casting him as a reformer who has been constrained by members of his late father’s old guard.

Protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms in one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. The Assad family has kept an iron grip on power for 40 years, in part by crushing dissent.

Foreign Secretary William Hague called the violence “unacceptable” and said “political reform ... is the only legitimate response to demands from the Syrian people”.