This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has sacked the governor of the city of Hama where 200,000 people took to the streets to protest against his regime.

State TV announced the removal of the governor on Saturday. Although the report gave no reason or detail for his sacking, video footage showed the huge crowds of protesters in a central square of the provincial capital calling for an end to Assad's rule.

"The Syrian president signed a decree today relieving Doctor Ahmad Khaled Abdel Aziz of his post as governor of Hama," the state-run Sana news agency announced.

Hama was the site of an armed Islamist revolt against Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, in 1982. At least 10,000 people were killed and part of the old city was flattened when the army crushed the uprising.

An anti-Assad activist said Abdul-Aziz is viewed as leaning towards the protesters for his urging of the security forces to avoid further bloodshed after at least 65 people were killed in a crackdown in the city last month.

"[The governor] is accused of being sympathetic to the demonstrators," said Omar Idibi, based in Beruit.

Another Beirut-based activist Wissam Tarif said ousting the governor suggested that Assad is looking for scapegoats as the anti-government protests grow in strength. "He doesn't have the tools to suppress the protests. For the [ruling] Ba'ath party, they need to blame somebody," he said.

Days after the protests erupted in the southern city of Deraa on 18 March, Assad sacked its regional governor.

The protests on Friday across Syria were the largest since the uprising against Assad's rule began nearly four months ago.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets nationwide, with human rights groups saying that at least 24 people had been killed by security forces on what was dubbed "the Friday of departure", a slogan borrowed from the demonstrators against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt at the start of the Arab uprising.

Activists claimed many were injured when police fired on protesters in the Damascus suburb of Daraya. Demonstrations were also reported in Aleppo, Latakia and Homs, where security forces and their allies killed 21 people in the past fortnight, according to Human Rights Watch.

The human rights group said security forces beat protesters in Homs with clubs, vandalised private property and broke into homes where they suspected protesters were hiding.

Human rights campaigners estimate that more than 1,350 civilians have been killed since the uprising began in mid-March. The government says about 500 security personnel have also been killed.