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| Arabia |
| Police in Aden disperse ‘day of rage’ protests |
| 2011-02-12 |
| ADEN, Yemen — Dozens of protesters in Aden called Friday for the secession of southern Yemen, before police moved in to disperse them, witnesses said. Security forces — backed by tanks — fanned out around the capital to head off the so-called “day of rage” supported by Yemen’s secessionist Southern Movement. Dozens of protesters nevertheless took to the streets in the districts of Crater, Khor Maksar, and Al-Mansura, chanting “out occupation,” before they were dispersed, witnesses told AFP. In Al-Masura, police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The Southern Movement, a coalition of groups seeking autonomy or secession of the once-independent South Yemen, has expressed its support earlier this week to Facebook calls for a “day of rage” in the south. Further east, several hundred people, led by a local separatist leader, Tareq al-Fadhli, took to the streets of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, with banners calling for an end to “the occupation”. No clashes were reported despite a heavy security and military deployment. Police meanwhile fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse a demonstration in Hadramawt’s provincial capital Mukalla, in the southeast, where protesters blocked roads and set car tyres alight, witnesses said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |