Syrian unrest timeline

DAMASCUS—Key events in Syria since the current protest movement began to gather momentum:

March 15: Several dozen people march in Damascus after a Facebook call for a “Day of Dignity.” Rights activists say it is the first overt protest in Syria since a state of emergency was declared in 1963.

March 18: Four protesters killed and dozens wounded by security forces in the southern town of Daraa, which becomes the centre of the protests.

March 20: Third straight day of protests in Daraa, where a demonstrator is reported shot dead.

March 21: More violence in Daraa, where an 11-year-old boy dies after inhaling tear gas.

March 22: A London-based group says writer Louai Hussein was arrested in Damascus after posting an online petition.

March 23: Rights activists say many people killed in Daraa after security forces opened fire on protesters outside the Omari mosque.

– The government blames the violence on an “armed gang.”

March 24: A human rights activist says around 100 people were killed in Daraa, although the government puts the toll at 10.

– An adviser to Assad says “important decisions” will be taken to satisfy the will of the people.

– A London-based human rights groups says Syrian blogger and journalist Mazen Darwish and another Internet blogger have been arrested.

March 25: Hundreds of people march in Damascus, as the protests spread. At least five people arrested; Assad supporters shout pro-regime slogans.

– Daraa demonstrators tear down a statue of former president Hafez al-Assad and burn the governor’s home.

– A human rights group says 17 protesters were shot dead in a village as they were marching towards Daraa.

– In the southern town of Sanamayn, several killed among “an armed group that attacked an army district.”

– Thirteen people officially confirmed dead, while activists put the death toll at 25. Amnesty International says at least 55 were killed during a week of unrest in and around Daraa.

– Syria’s information minister says the country is “totally calm” and blames events in Daraa on “terrorists,” who he says have been arrested.

March 26: Two people reported killed and two more wounded by unidentified snipers in the coastal town of Latakia.

– 260 political prisoners released, most of them Islamists, says the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.

– Calls issued on Facebook for a massive popular revolt.

– Several thousand attend funerals of three protesters in Tafas, 18 kilometres (12 miles) north of Daraa. A police station and Baath party office in Tafas are torched.

– The European Union condemns Syria’s “violent repression of protesters” with “legitimate concerns,” while UN human rights chief Navi Pillay warns that the crackdown on protests risked plunging Syria into a spiral of violence.