in VOA Special English.Tens of thousands of Syriansdemonstrated againstthe governmenton the first Fridayof the Muslimholy month of Ramadan.Late in the day, witnessesand activists said at leastfifteen people were killedwhen government forces firedon demonstrators.They said most of the deathshappened around Damascus.Protests also took placein other Syrian cities.Demonstrators called forPresident Bashar al-Assad to resign.The city of Hama has beenunder military attack since Sunday.A political activist in Hamatold VOA that government forceshave been raiding the homes of activistsand carrying out arrests and killings.Still, he said, there wereprotests in Hama on Friday.The Syrian government launcheda violent campaign againstpro-democracy protesters in March.American officials estimatethat more than two thousand peoplehave been killed in the attackson protesters.On Thursday, Secretary of StateHillary Clinton called onother countries to jointhe United States in taking action.HILLARY CLINTON: "But not justUS sanctions because, frankly,we do not have lot of businesswith Syria.We need to get Europeans and others.We need to get the Arab states.We need to get a much louder,more effective chorus of voicesthat are putting pressureon the Assad regime,and we're working to obtain that."Secretary Clinton saida statement Wednesday by the UnitedNations Security Councilwas a first step.The statement condemnedthe "widespread violations of human rightsand the use of force against civiliansby the Syrian authorities."It urged restraint on both sides in Syria.The government has blamedmuch of the violence on what it callsterrorists and militants.The official news agency SANAreported Friday that unidentified gunmenhad killed two security officers.The United States and European countrieshad pressed the Security Councilfor a resolution.A resolution is stronger thanthe presidential statement it approved.But Russia, China, India, Braziland South Africa blocked those efforts.They feared that a resolutioncould lead to a situationsimilar to the internationalmilitary action in Libya.The United States dismisseda promise this weekby the Syrian presidentto permit reforms.These include letting opposition partiesoperate for the first time.Syria has long had a single-party systemled by the Ba'ath party of the Assad family.In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak appearedin a hospital bed in a cagein a courtroom on Wednesday.The former president deniedthe charges against him.These include ordering the killingof protesters during the eighteen daysof political unrest that forced him out.More than eight hundred people were killed.Raina el Malky is a newspaper editor.She says that if anyone had predictedthis trial last year,she would have thought they were crazy.RAINA El-MALKY: "I would have saidthey were are living in Mars or Neptuneor somewhere outside Earthbecause this was unthinkable.I think what happened is a miracleand the way everything has happenedsince the fist day,since January twenty-fifth,has been a miracle."What became knownas the Arab Spring uprisingsin North Africa and the Middle Eastousted the presidentsof Egypt and Tunisia.Yemen's president was woundedby an explosion in June and remainsin Saudi Arabia, recovering.And that's IN THE NEWSin VOA Special English.