Yemen Security Forces Fire at Sana’a Protesters, Killing 20
September 18, 2011, 2:11 PM EDTBy Mohammed Hatem
(Updates with 20 killed in lead; Interior Ministry, opposition statements in fourth and fifth paragraphs).
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- At least 20 people were killed when Yemeni government forces and armed men in plainclothes opened fire at thousands of protesters in the capital, Sana’a.
Dozens more were injured by gunfire and hundreds suffered from minor injuries and tear gas inhalation, according to Mohammed al-Abahi, a doctor and the chief of the field clinic at Change Square. The death toll reached 20, said Tarik al-Duais, a doctor at the field clinic, which has appealed for blood donations.
Today’s rally followed a call to escalate protests by the Organizing Committee of the Popular Youth Revolution, which called on Yemenis to remove the “remains of the regime,” according to an e-mailed statement. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been recuperating in Saudi Arabia from injuries sustained in a June attack on his compound. Gulf Arab countries have failed in repeated efforts to get the president and opposition to sign a power-transfer agreement and end months of unrest.
Four policemen were wounded and an armored vehicle and a water cannon vehicle were burnt, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on its website. It accused the opposition of mobilizing protests “to control public and private facilities in order to dodge calls for dialogue.”
The National Council for Forces of Peaceful Revolution, an umbrella opposition group, denied the accusations in an e-mailed statement, saying demonstrators were protesting with “bare chests.” It condemned violence against protesters and urged the United Nations and international community to intervene and “stop the crimes of this gang,” saying, “this monstrous crime will not go unpunished.”
Troops and armored vehicles were deployed to the streets, blocking some, according to Ahmed Najmeddin, an eyewitness.
Separately, troops loyal to Saleh fought today with supporters of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, head of the Hashid tribal confederation, in the al-Hasaba northern neighborhood of Sana’a, resident Naseem Humaid said by telephone.
--With assistance from Mariam Fam in Cairo. Editors: Digby Lidstone, Dick Schumacher.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Dubai at mhatem1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
