Syrian security agents have violently dispersed university students protesting against President Bashar al-Assad in the country's second-largest city Aleppo, a human rights activist has said.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Mustafa Osso as saying that dozens were injured after the protesting students were attacked with batons on Tuesday.

He said many of the students were chased into their dormitories and badly beaten. The university has seen several anti-regime demonstrations in the past weeks.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists used Facebook to call for a general strike throughout Syria on Wednesday to protest the security crackdown on anti-government protesters.

One of the protesters' main Facebook pages, The Syrian Revolution 2011, had a picture of a child saying "father, your participation in the strike is a guarantee for my future".

Osso said security forces with clubs also dispersed a rally on Monday of about 3,000 in the central city of Homs.

On Monday night, thousands of demonstrators marched through the Damascus suburb of Saqba at the funeral of Ahmad Ataya, who died of wounds inflicted when security forces fired at a pro-democracy rally in the capital last month.

It was the biggest protest in the Damascus outskirts since a security crackdown began three weeks ago.