BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian security forces fired at mourners in the central city of Homs during a funeral procession on Saturday for eight protesters who died the previous day, killing at least five people and wounding several others, witnesses and human rights activists said.

The fresh round of violence came as the death toll from Friday’s protests reached 44, according to the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights. More than half of the victims on Friday died in Idlib Province, where tanks had been deployed on Friday as part of the attempt to crush antigovernment protests by sending troops into restive towns and cities. The bloodshed on Saturday followed the pattern in recent weeks in Syria, in which killings on Fridays — the Muslim holy day, when some of the largest demonstrations of the Arab Spring have been held — have led to more protests and deaths.

One witness said the shooting began as mourners were chanting “Rest in peace, martyr, we will continue on the same path” as well as “The people want to topple the regime” and “Freedom, freedom.”

“A lot of people were injured. There was blood everywhere,” said the witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They were firing at us directly.”