* Syrian forces fire at Latakia protesters
* Syria interior ministry delivers warning
* Ministry says no leniency in enforcing law
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN, April 9 (Reuters) - Syrian security forces used live ammunition in the early hours of Saturday to disperse a pro-democracy protest by hundreds of people in a Sunni district of Latakia, causing scores of injuries and possible deaths, residents said.
Protests have spread across Syria, challenging the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, and dozens of demonstrators have been killed. A Syrian rights group said at least 37 were killed across the country on Friday.
One witness said he saw water trucks hosing down blood on the streets near the Takhasussieh School in the Sleibeh district of Latakia, Syria's main port, 330 km (210 miles) northwest of the capital Damascus.
"One cannot move two steps in the streets without risking arrest. It is difficult to know if there were deaths, but we heard heavy AK-47 fire," a resident said.
"One thing is certain. This regime of thugs is exposing its fangs. Brutality is the only thing it knows," he said by telephone.
After Friday's bloodshed, Syria's interior ministry warned it would not tolerate breaches of the law and would deal with "armed groups", state news agency SANA said on Saturday. Activists were concerned this could herald a harsher crackdown.
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European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton strongly condemned the violence and deaths, and urged Syria to implement "meaningful political reforms".
There were rallies on Friday from the Mediterranean port of Latakia to Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, as demonstrations entered a fourth week in defiance of Assad's security crackdown and despite his growing list of reform pledges.
The National Organisation for Human Rights said in a statement that 30 people were killed in the southern city of Deraa, the epicentre of protests. It added that three people were killed in the central city of Homs and three others in Harasta, a Damascus suburb, as well as one in Douma.
ASSAD BLAMES FOREIGN CONSPIRACY
Latakia is a majority Sunni city, with significant numbers of Alawites, who follow an offshoot sect of Shi'ite Islam, and Christian residents.
Several hundred protesters were left in Sleibeh by the time security forces and irregular forces loyal to Assad attacked around midnight, residents said.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian authorities, who have arrested journalists and banned independent media from Latakia and other cities where mass protests against Baath Party rule have taken place.
The party took power in a 1963 coup, banning all opposition and imposing an emergency law which is still in force. The party is headed by Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, which comprises 10 percent of Syria's population.
But a large pro-democracy protest demanding freedom of speech and assembly erupted in the coastal city of Tartous on Friday, with a big turnout by Alawites, who comprise around half of the population there.
Assad has said the protests are serving a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife in Syria.
Protesters and security forces said they sustained casualties on Friday. Activists said at least 22 people were killed when police opened fire on thousands of protesters in the southern city of Deraa. State television said armed groups killed 19 policemen and wounded 75 in the city.
NATIONAL UNITY
The interior ministry accused "plotters pushed by known foreign sides" of firing at protesters to create a rift between people and police.
"(They) have infiltrated the ranks of the demonstrators to sow discord between the citizens and the security forces. There is no more room for leniency or tolerance in enforcing law ...
"We will not allow sabotage .... and harming national unity," the ministry said.
"Syrian authorities, in order to preserve the security of the country, citizens and the governmental and services establishments, will confront these people and those behind them according to the law," it added. Activists said the statement showed that authorities are planning to step up a crackdown on protesters.
"We have fear now after the statement that oppression in Syria (will increase) against civilians under the pretext of (confronting) armed groups," Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, told Reuters.
Thousands of protesters in many Syrian cities turned out on Friday, chanting: "Freedom, freedom, we want freedom." Some shouted: "We sacrifice our blood and soul for you, Deraa."
In Deraa, where demonstrations first broke out in March, residents said security forces fired on thousands of protesters, who set fire to a building belonging to the ruling Baath Party and smashed a statue of the president's brother, Basil.
Authorities have blamed armed groups for the violence and state television broadcast footage on Friday of plain-clothed gunmen it said fired at both security forces and civilians.
DERAA FUNERALS
Residents in Deraa said it was quiet on Saturday and that people were preparing to bury their dead.
"It's quiet so far today but it's the funerals that will inflame emotions. There is a lot of anger at what happened yesterday and people are calling for revenge at the blood spilled," one resident, Abu Jabbar, told Reuters by phone.
Syria has prevented news media from reporting from Deraa. Inspired by Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia and Egypt, popular demonstrations calling for greater freedom have shaken Syria. Assad has responded with a blend of force against protesters, gestures towards political reform and concessions to conservative Muslims including closing Syria's only casino.
Activists said the steps taken were not enough.
A key demand of the protesters is the repeal of emergency law. Assad ordered a committee to study replacing it with anti-terrorism legislation, but critics say it will probably grant the state many of the same powers.
Protests broke out in northeastern city of Qamishli despite Assad's pledge to grant citizenship to stateless Kurds. It was not clear how many Kurds would be given nationality, but at least 150,000 Kurds are registered as foreigners as a result of a 1962 census in the eastern region of al-Hasaka.
Under Assad, who took over as president in 2000 when his father died after 30 years in power, Syria has been Iran's closest Arab ally, a major player in Lebanon and a supporter of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; editing by Peter Millership)
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