"We will never kneel down, never again, to anyone but God," the protesters chanted.

Fighting flares across Syria and into Jordan

The fighting spilled into Jordan on Friday, the Jordanian armed forces said.

Shells and bullets landed in Jordanian territory because of heavy fighting between government forces and rebels in western Syria.

One Jordanian soldier was wounded and is in good condition at a hospital.

An armed forces source quoted by the state-run Petra news agency said Jordanian armed forces made "an appropriate response" to the sources of the shelling but didn't describe the action. "We will not hesitate in the future to take all suitable measures to defend our border and property," the source said.

Outside the Damascus area, at least 37 others were killed across Syria on Friday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Activists also found a mass grave in Deir Ezzor, in the country's east, that included the bodies of 50 people kidnapped two months ago, the group said.

The world weighs diplomacy, military options

As diplomats continue to seek a more peaceful resolution, international powers are weighing their military options.

The U.S. military continues to revise its plans for a potential strike against Syria over chemical weapons. And NATO has approved deploying Patriot missiles for Turkey, which wants to defend itself from attacks along its border.

All these moves inside and outside Syria haven't slowed the crisis' human toll: more than 40,000 killed, half a million seeking refuge in other countries and nearly 3 million internally displaced.

"I am shocked and saddened and even angry," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday after visiting a Jordanian refugee camp.

It's only getting worse, he said, relating witnesses' claim that the number of refugees has tripled in recent days.

"Let us not forget where this started: The legitimate request of people for greater freedom and human dignity," Ban said. "The response of the government has been brutal and disproportionate.

"The country has been brought to ruin."