At least 16 Syria protesters killed on Ramadan Friday (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – A six-day tank assault on the Syrian city of Hama to crush pro-democracy demonstrations has killed at least 300 civilians, an activists’ organization said on Friday, quoting refugees from the city.

The Local Coordination Committees said many of the wounded died for want of blood transfusions or lack of transport to hospitals due to heavy shelling of residential neighborhoods by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The organization quoted a refugee, Mohammad, as saying that shelling caused a fire on the second floor of al-Rayyes Maternity Hospital, which was being used to treat some of the wounded, and that several doctors at makeshift field hospitals were arrested.

Most of those killed were buried on private property or in public gardens, he said.

Army snipers and militiamen loyal to Assad spread through the city and at least 15 tanks occupied the central Orontes Square, he said, scene of some of the largest demonstrations against Assad in a five-month uprising.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

— ’re ’s , . : A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.