At least 62 people have been killed in another day of demonstrations in Syria.

Witnesses say soldiers opened fire in a number of cities as thousands took to the streets in defiance of a protest ban, Euronews reports.

President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown has drawn condemnation world wide with the United States announcing more sanctions against the regime and the European Union to follow suit.

Independent media is all but banned from the country so pictures being posted daily on the internet cannot be verified.

But they concur with allegations from human rights bodies that people have died in a number of cities across Syria, from Deir al Zour to Deraa in the south where the uprising began a month ago.

The top United Nations human rights body voted to condemn the violence and has launched an investigation into alleged crimes.

The count was not unanimous. But one Syrian exile said the decision by Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan to leave the room rather than vote was an indication of how isolated the Syrian regime was among Arab nations.