SANAA: Yemeni security forces killed 20 people, some shot by snipers from rooftops, in a crowd of protesters on Monday demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, medics and witnesses said, in rising violence that has broken an uneasy stalemate.| Rising violence? Uneasy stalemate? Did the reporter file this from Paris? |
Gunfire and shelling echoed sporadically across the divided capital as pro-Saleh troops and protesters clashed on Monday.Government troops were firing into the air to scatter demonstrators, according to witnesses. But a Reuters reporter saw snipers shooting from rooftops and upper stories of buildings into the throng of demonstrators. Some of the deaths appeared to have been caused by rocket-propelled grenades.
Injured people were whisked on motorcycles to a makeshift hospital in protester-dubbed Change Square where people have been camped for eight months calling for an end to SalehÂ’s 33 years of repressive rule in the poor Arabian Peninsula state.
“I fear the situation will get out of hand. There is no new initiative to cool things off and the other political players doubt that Saleh will abide by any terms that are set,” said Saadaldeen Talib, a former Yemeni opposition parliamentarian. “Complete disintegration and chaos might come very soon.”
| Not that you'll be able to tell the difference... |
“The thugs are hurting our brothers. We will go, the road is open. The free men will meet at Kentucky Roundabout!” organizers shouted over loudspeakers in Change Square.
Earlier on Monday, troops belonging to defected General Ali Mohsen, who threw his support behind the anti-Saleh movement some months ago, blocked the protestersÂ’ efforts to advance, in an apparent attempt to defuse the situation. Some Mohsen soldiers were among the injured at the hospital.
The new bloodshed, shredding a weeks-long stand-off, was the worst in recent months. Hundreds of people were wounded too when security forces fired on protesters who charged police lines.