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Yemenis turn mosque into hospital
[Iran Press TV] Yemeni doctors and students have turned a mosque in the capital into a makeshift hospital to take in victims of the government's brutal crackdown on the popular revolution.Joining hands with the medical students from the Sana'a University, the physicians have equipped the mosque, located near Sana'a's Change Square, with 35 beds, medical equipment and about a dozen medical staff, Rooters reported. The volunteers serve patients that have been targeted with live rounds and tear gas canisters. "Our presence is important here. We receive a lot of cases," said one doctor, named Iman al-Awisi. Since late January, demonstrators have been calling for an end to widespread corruption and unemployment in Yemen, also demanding ouster of the 32-year rule of despotic President  President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh.... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... Some 40 percent of the population live on $2 a day or less and a third face food shortages. Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations around the country, namely in the capital and the southwestern cities of Aden and Taiz. The protests have been met by riot police or Saleh's supporters armed with knives and batons. According to local reports, the corpse count in the country has surpassed 300 since the protests began. Saleh has said he will not seek another term in office in 2013 but has vowed to defend his regime 'with every drop of blood.' Posted by: Fred 2011-04-08 |
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