A rare demonstration by hundreds of Syrian university students turned violent Monday when security forces beat up and arrested several protesters who were shouting for freedom and unity as the country's three-week uprising gathered strength despite a government crackdown, witnesses said.

One student was killed in the protest, bringing the death toll to well

over 170 after more than three week of unrest, activists said. There were conflicting reports about whether the student was shot or beaten to death.

Open gallery view Anti-Syrian government protesters shout slogans in Damascus, Syria on Friday, March 25, 2011. Credit: AP

Video footage posted online showed what appears to be plainclothes security forces beating protesters and forcefully pulling others away as they marched inside the campus of Damascus University. An activist in touch with students who witnessed the demonstration corroborated the footage, but he spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"The Syrian people are one!" the students shouted in the video.

Anti-government protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms to President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime.

More than 170 people have been killed in the upheaval, according to human rights groups.

International and Arab reactions to the violence in Syria had been relatively subdued, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested America would not be getting involved.

She said late last month that Assad is a different leader than Libya's Muammar Gadhafi, and that many members of Congress who have visited the country believe he's a reformer.

But with the mounting casualties, others in the international community have begun voicing criticism.

France strongly condemned the violence in Syria on Monday, calling it unacceptable, and called for immediate reforms.Reform and repression are incompatible, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

German spokesman, Steffen Seibert, called the continuing use of force against peaceful demonstrators dismaying and outrageous.

While at the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a telephone conversation with Assad, said he was greatly disturbed by the reports of violence and said the killing of peaceful demonstrators was unacceptable and should be investigated.

Most of the demonstrations in Syria so far have happened outside the capital.

The fact that students were gathering in Damascus on Monday suggested that the protesters were becoming emboldened as their unprecedented movement enters its fourth week.

The activist said most of the students taking part in Monday's protest were from Daraa - the southern city that has become the epicenter of the violence - and the port city of Banias, where four protesters were killed Sunday.

