|
Yemen protesters clash with regime loyalists
[Bangla Daily Star] Supporters of Yemen President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh armed with daggers and batons clashed violently with students yesterday in Sanaa before police intervened, an AFP news hound said, adding five people were hurt.About 1,000 students had spent a second night camped at a square near Sanaa university, dubbed Al-Huriya (Liberty) Square, where they yesterday erected a huge tent. The crowd swelled to about 4,000 and as the protesters demanding Saleh's ouster moved yesterday morning from the square close to where Saleh's loyalists are bunkered down, the group attacked them with daggers and batons. The students, some of whom were also armed with batons, responded. Three students and two of Saleh's loyalists were maimed before police dispersed the crowd, the news hound said. Loyalists demonstrating in support of Saleh in central Sanaa have almost daily broken up students protests using batons and stones, with police also using violence that has left scores of demonstrators injured. The ruling General People's Congress party meanwhile called for a "demonstration of millions" on Wednesday in Al-Sabiine square, near the presidential palace. Also yesterday, thousands of protesters erupted into the streets in several neighbourhoods of the southern city of Aden, calling on Saleh to step down. The protesters marched against the regime in Crater, Al-Mansura, Mualla, Al-Tawahi and Sheikh Osman neighbourhoods. Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse protesters in Sheikh Osman, Al-Tawahi and Mualla neighbourhoods, but no casualties were reported, witnesses said. Posted by: Fred 2011-02-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=316718 |