Thousands of Syrian women and children holding white flags and olive branches blocked a main coastal highway Wednesday, demanding authorities release detainees picked up during a crackdown on opponents of President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime, witnesses said.

The crowd unusual because it was dominated by women and young children demanded the release of hundreds of men who have been rounded up in the northeastern villages of Bayda and Beit Jnad and surrounding areas in recent days.

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"We will not be humiliated!" the crowd shouted Wednesday, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. They were gathering along the main.

In an apparent attempt to calm the women's demonstration, authorities released about 100 of the detainees and brought them to the area where the protesters had gathered, prompting cheers and ululations, a witness said.

But the protester, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said the sit-in will continue until all the men are released.

Details about what happened in recent days around Bayda and Beit Jnad were sketchy because the Syrian government has placed severe restrictions on the media and has expelled reporters, including journalists from The Associated Press.

Lebanese conspiracy?

Meanwhile Wednesday, Syrian TV aired what it described as the confessions of three men who said they were paid money and given weapons by an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker to carry out attacks on security services in Syria.

The legislator denied the allegations.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday published testimony of two protesters who said some demonstrators had seized weapons at an abandoned army checkpoint in the southern city of Deraa and opened fire, killing at least a dozen of them and setting two cars belonging to the military and security services on fire.

HRW also said Syrian security services had barred wounded protesters reaching hospitals and stopped medical teams from reaching them, a charge a Syrian Interior Ministry official said was "devoid of any truth".

The official, quoted on state news agency SANA, said "armed groups" had prevented ambulances carrying wounded policemen from reaching nearby hospitals.

AP and Reuters contributed to this report