Syrian forces shot dead at least two men on Sunday as protests broke out to condemn a massacre that killed at least 109 civilians, many of them children, in the town of Houla, opposition activists said.
The two were killed in the Damascus suburbs of Yalda and Daraya, home to thousands of refugees who have fled a military crackdown on the central province of Homs.
One of those killed, 22-year-old Riad Mahmoud, was among a crowd of 2,000-3,000 people who marched in the neighborhood of Yalda on the southern edge of the capital and were confronted by armed members of political security, a secret police division, two activists in contact with the district said.
Footage broadcast by activists in Yalda showed a crowd of hundreds at Mahmoud's funeral shouting "the people want the downfall of the regime."
"The funeral turned into another demonstration against the regime and in support of Homs," said opposition campaigner Walid al-Omari.
Activists said forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed at least 109 people, mostly women and children, on Friday in Houla in Homs province, in one of the biggest massacres of the 14-month uprising against his rule.
Syria, facing growing world outrage over the killings, on Sunday accused rebels of carrying out the massacre.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told a Damascus news conference that Syria is being subjected to a "tsunami of lies" on Houla.
"We categorically deny the responsibility of government forces for the massacre," Makdissi said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the massacre.
“Those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account. And the United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Asad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end,” she said in a statement Saturday. “We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and the peaceful marchers in cities across Syria who have taken to the streets to denounce the massacre in Houla.”
Msnbc.com's James Eng contributed to this report from Reuters.
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