At least 50 people were killed on Friday alone, when protesters erupted into the streets to call for an end to the three-decade rule of 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. ..., a Press TV correspondent reported.
Following the peaceful protests, the Saleh regime launched a massive crackdown on Yemeni people before ordering a state of emergency.
However,
The emphatic
However...
the state of emergency did not stop snipers from targeting the protesters.
"The Friday protests has attracted the biggest crowd yet in Change Square," Press TV's correspondent reported.
The European Union, meanwhile, has called on Yemen to stop the violence.
"I am dismayed by the reports coming from Yemen. I have repeatedly and unreservedly condemned the use of violence against protesters in Sana'a and other cities, and the loss of life," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a Friday statement.
"Human rights and fundamental freedoms must be fully respected. President [Ali Abdullah] Saleh must stand by his commitments to uphold the right to peaceful protest, as he announced on 10 March. I ask him to stop violence now," she added.
The protests in Yemen were sparked after popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt sent a wave of Islamic Awakening throughout the region.