Syrian security forces on Wednesday dispersed a demonstration by dozens of relatives of prisoners near the interior ministry, according to AFP correspondents.

At least four protesters were arrested, the correspondents added, after the demonstrators gathered in a public square near the ministry in central Damascus.

Dozens of supporters of President Bashar al-Assad held a counter-demonstration in the same square, they added.

The families of 21 jailed human rights activists in Syria had announced plans to lobby Interior Minister Saeed Sammur for the release of their relatives, in a statement posted Saturday on the website of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.