Hundreds of police and militiamen loyal to Syria's President Bashar Assad used batons to attack thousands of pro-democracy protesters in the country's mainly Kurdish city of Qamishli on Friday, witnesses said.

Police fired teargas to disperse protesters, injuring several people, witnesses added, in first major crackdown on Kurdish demonstrators reported since the start of the four-month uprising against Assad's rule.

The protesters shouted slogans demanding political freedoms, an end to discrimination against Syria's Kurdish minority, witnesses said.