Activists and reporters in Syria say that yesterday’s protests against President Assad’s regime were the largest since the uprising began three months ago.

Protests took place in four neighbourhoods of Damascus: Medan, Rukin Adeen, Qaboun and Barzah.

In the towns around Damascus, protests took place in Duma, Harsta, Daria, Al-Tal, Maddaya , Zabadani, Gdeidah Artouz and Hajjar al-Aswad. 

In Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, there were two demonstrations near the Amnah Mosque and on Nile Street, as well as two larger protests in A’zaz and Mara’a in Aleppo governorate.

At the other end of the county, in the far south, large protests took place in Deraa, where the uprising began, and in surrounding towns of Akhel, Na’amah and Tabiah.

In the far eastern governorate of Deir Ezzour, there were protests in the city itself, as well as in Miadeen, Al Boukamal and Ishara’a, near the Iraqi border.

"I can say now there are no posters and statues of the Assad family in Deir Ezzour. The protesters burnt all the Baath party branches,” said Fatah, 28, a pro-democracy activist from Deir Ezzour.

Combined with protests by up to 100,000 in Hama and its surrounding villages and up to 100,000 who took to the streets in Maarat an-Numan, a city further north - as well as protests in Lattakia, Homs and Rastan - Friday's demonstrations likely involved at least 300,000 people, the largest protests since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March.