Update 3.30pm

WITNESSES IN SYRIA say the death toll has risen to 15 in clashes between security forces and protesters.

AP reports that security forces fired live bullets an tens of thousands of people calling for freedom and democracy in protests around the country.

Five people are thought to have been killed in Damascus, while witnesses say at least ten were killed when protesters marched in front of the mayor’s office in the southern province of Daraa. An 11-year-old boy is among the dead.

Security forces were preparing a major crackdown earlier today in anticipation of a major day of protest.

The anti-regime protests have been ongoing for a month, calling on the government to relax the fiercely authoritarian rule in the country. In a bid to quell the protests, President Bashar al-Assad has lifted Syria’s longstanding emergency law. The law had been in place for 50 years, and its abolition does away with state security courts and ends a ban on public protests

However protesters say that the move has come too late, and that emergency law has been brought down, rather than lifted. 200 people have been killed in five weeks of unrest.

Amnesty International urged the Syrian authorities to show restraint today, saying the government’s response to today’s protests will show how willing it is to undertake reforms.

- Additional reporting by AP