Sounds like Assad's big speech where he sacked the cabinet and proposed reforms wasn't as powerful as he had hoped. Al Jazeera:
The deaths occurred after Friday prayers when security forces opened fire with rubber-coated bullets and live rounds to disperse stone-throwing protesters, a witness told Al Jazeera.
Amateur video uploaded to social media websites purportedly showed wounded protesters being treated in the Omari mosque in Daraa.
The state-run SANA news agency had a different take on the events in the flash-point town, saying 19 members of the security forces were killed and 75 people wounded by "armed groups" during the protests.
"According to an interior ministry source, there were 19 martyrs among the police and security forces and 75 wounded by armed groups which used live ammunition in Daraa," the agency said.
