Report: Syrian forces arrest writer during protest

Syrian security forces dispersed a small pro-democracy demonstration in the centre of Damascus on Monday, arresting an opposition writer and several students, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Ammar Mashour Dayoub, a writer who had called for political reform in Syria, was among 150 people who assembled in Arnous Square in Damascus in a night rally demanding the lifting of military sieges on Syrian cities that had defied the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, the Observatory said in a statement. (Reuters)