( CNN ) -- At least 10 people died Saturday after Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters who turned out across the country to mourn dozens of demonstrators slain the day before , eyewitnesses told CNN . The violence erupted in the Damascus suburb of Douma and the southern town of Izraa , where people attended funerals and buried people shot dead during the `` Great Friday '' protests . The brazen Friday killings rippled through the Syrian political establishment Saturday when Syrian parliament member , Khalil Al Rifai , announced his resignation in a television interview over the deaths . He said security forces opened fire even though President Bashar al-Assad promised not to use force against protesters . The developments occurred amid growing discontent in Syria with the al-Assad regime , whose tough response to peaceful protests has emboldened the citizenry to take to the streets . Douma is one of the towns where Syrians have staged anti-government demonstrations for weeks . On Saturday , as thousands of people marched from the burial grounds towards the main hospital , security forces on the rooftops of government buildings fired shots , a witness said . `` We were chanting 'with our bloods with our souls we will sacrifice for you martyrs . ' And all of sudden and without warning , they fired indiscriminately into the crowd , '' the witness said . The witness said five were killed and others were injured . People fled the violence , but several hundred demonstrators remain in smaller alleyways and side streets awaiting the opportunity to come out and demonstrate again . Activist Wissam Tarif , who is not in Syria but remains in contact with activists across the country , said he was told the forces were firing in the air and at random targets . His contacts told him more than 10,000 protesters took to the streets . Witnesses in Izraa said tens of thousands of people gathered for a funeral procession , when , one witness said , `` suddenly they opened fire on us and it was raining bullets . We were chanting 'peacefully , peacefully ' and they fired at us . '' Two people were critically wounded in the assault and medical personnel transported them to a hospital in nearby Daraa , a doctor said . There was a confrontation between security forces and families of the victims . Shots were fired in the air but the security forces left the scene and there were no casualties . Tarif said there were reports of shootings in the city of Homs , but an eyewitness said the city is eerily quiet and many people are too scared to leave their homes . There were burials of slain protesters but the funeral ceremonies were performed quickly and they were sparsely attended as if to not attract attention , the witness said . As for Friday 's killings , they occurred in several flashpoint regions as thousands of Syrian protesters defiantly marched after Muslims ' weekly prayers in a display of mass discontent toward the government . Violence ripped through the Damascus suburbs of Douma , Moademy and Zamalka , and other cities -- Homs , Harasta and Izraa . Firm casualty figures were difficult to come by . The Syrian government does not permit CNN to report from inside the country and CNN bases its figures on reports from witnesses . Tarif said activists have confirmed at least 84 deaths from Friday 's confrontations between protesters and security forces . The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said a `` group of people , some of them armed '' assaulted guards in Izraa on Friday , leading to the deaths of eight and the wounding of 28 , both from the group and the military . Ted Kattouf , a former U.S. ambassador to Syria , expressed admiration for the demonstrators ' courage , but made no predictions about where it might lead . `` Unfortunately , repression , if used repeatedly , ruthlessly , brutally , can work . We saw that in Iran and , I 'm afraid , we could see it in Syria , '' he told CNN 's `` AC 360 . '' The demonstrators do not have the critical mass needed to effect regime change , Kattouf said . He noted that massive demonstrations have yet to appear in Damascus or Aleppo , where millions of people reside , most of them Sunni . Al-Assad is Alawite , an offshoot of Shiite Islam . The Alawite sect is a minority in Syria but it has maintained control of the regime for decades . `` There 's a coalition of interests here , and the demonstrations would have to get much , much larger and stretch the capacity of the regime 's security services to the point where some people thought about maybe making their own ways and abandoning Assad . '' Amnesty International , which reported at least 75 deaths on Friday , said two boys aged 7 and 10 and a 70-year-old man were killed and urged the regime to stop its attacks on `` peaceful protesters . '' `` The Syrian authorities have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons , '' said Malcolm Smart , Amnesty International 's Middle East and North Africa director . The protests began last month in the southern city of Daraa after a violent crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti . The tough crackdown in Daraa spurred more protest . As peaceful demonstrations spread to other regions , such as Latakia , Banias , and the Damascus suburbs , the protests were met with force that emboldened the protesters ' resolve . The government made some efforts at reform , include the lifting of the country 's emergency law , the abolition of a special court that tried regime opponents , the establishment of a new cabinet , and the granting of citizenship to stateless people in the country 's northeastern Kurdish region . The emergency law permitted the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes . The security court was a special body that prosecuted people regarded as challenging the government . But activists think the violent crackdown Friday undermines the lifting of the emergency law . They also have other complaints with the government , such as immunity for its security officers and the incarceration of political prisoners and those arrested for participating in peaceful protests . They want the easing of the ruling Baath Party 's power and a law that would permit the establishment of independent political parties . CNN 's Nada Husseini , Joe Sterling , Salma Abdelaziz and Samira Said contributed to this report .
NEW : Witnesses say 10 are killed in Douma and Aleppo . Aleppo is eerily quiet but killings have been reported there . Syrians turned out to mourn dozens who died there .