Activists behind street protests in Syria criticised on Tuesday a meeting of opposition figures they said was being used by the regime as a way to build a "civilised and legitimate image."
On Monday, about 160 dissidents, several of whom have spent years in jail as political prisoners, vowed to press ahead with a peaceful uprising, and the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad invited them to talks.
"As a matter of principle, the Coordination Committees of the Syrian Revolution condemn any meeting or congress held under the banner of the regime," they said on their Facebook page, an engine of the revolt.
"It's only natural that questions are raised by this meeting which claims to come from the Syrian street when the Syrian regime gave its protection and media coverage, counting on it to build a civilised and legitimate image," they said.
"Nobody should have given a drop of legitimacy to the regime at the expense of the blood of our martyrs and the suffering of the detained. The committees renew their commitment to the Syrian street."
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 1,342 civilians have been killed since mid-March in the government's crackdown on protesters and that 342 security force personnel have also died.
A key activist and supporter of the street protests, Rami Abdel Rahman, said demonstrations calling for Assad's fall and to condemn the meeting were staged on Monday night in several cities around Syria.
Thousands protested in the central city of Homs, in Hama and Deir Ezzor, both to the north of the capital, the northwestern province of Idlib, in Latakia on the Mediterranean coast and in districts of Damascus, he said.
He said there had also been arrests in various parts of the country.
At the meeting, in a Damascus hotel, the dissidents vowed to press ahead with a peaceful uprising.
In a document they called a "pledge," the dissidents vowed to remain "part of Syria's peaceful uprising for freedom and democracy and pluralism to establish a democratic state through peaceful means."
"There are two ways forward -- the first a clear and non-negotiable move to a peaceful transition to democracy which would rescue our country and our people," opposition activist Munzer Khaddam told the meeting.
"The alternative is a road that leads into the unknown and which will destroy everyone," he said.
They said they rejected "resorting to security measures to solve the deep structural crisis that Syria is suffering," and condemned "any discourse or behaviour that divides Syrians on the basis of race or religion."
They also demanded the right to demonstrate peacefully, the release of political prisoners, freedom of the press, the safe return of refugees and moves to prevent foreign intervention.
Anwar Bunni, a prominent human rights lawyer who has recently been released from jail, was positive about the meeting, which brought together people without any party affiliation.
He said it had "succeeded in establishing the right to meet in a legitimate and public way on the soil of the nation and to express clearly opinions hostile to the regime without being arrested or intimidated."
Indeed, the authorities invited the opposition to a meeting to discuss key changes to the constitution amid the deadly wave of unrest that has pitted pro-democracy protesters against security forces since mid-March.
A key demand of the opposition has been to remove Clause 8, which stipulates the ruling Baath is the leader of both the Syrian state and society.
On Monday, Assad discussed the "legitimate demands of his people, current events and the implementation of reforms," in a meeting with visiting US congressman Dennis Kucinich, official media said.
Security forces this week pressed their sweep for dissidents towards Syria's borders, sending some 11,000 refugees fleeing into Turkey and hundreds more into Lebanon.
In Istanbul, Turkish officials said on Tuesday the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has decreased to 10,757 after several hundred people returned home.
And in Moscow, a visiting Syrian opposition delegation urged Russia on Tuesday to use its diplomatic clout to convince Assad to stop using force against civilians.
Russia has blocked United Nations attempts to condemn Assad's bloody crackdown and expressed fears of international forces getting involved in the conflict just as they have done in Libya.
"We want the reforms announced by the Syrian government to become real, and the peace process to involve representatives of all religious groups and confessions," said the Kremlin's special representative to Africa, Mikhail Margelov.
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