12 die as forces shoot at protesters in Yemen
Source: Agencies |
April 5, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SECURITY forces and plainclothes gunmen opened fire on crowds of Yemenis marching through a southern city yesterday, killing at least 12 and wounding dozens, in an intensifying crackdown on the uprising against the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Witnesses described troops and gunmen, some on nearby rooftops, firing wildly on thousands of protesters who marched past the governor's headquarters in Taiz in the second straight day of violence in the southern city. Some - including elderly people - were trampled and injured as the crowds tried to flee, witnesses said.
Violence has swelled in recent days amid frustration over behind-the-scenes efforts to convince Saleh to step down in the face of a nearly two-month-old uprising. The United States and Europe have been contacting Saleh and his opponents, trying to find a formula for the president to leave with a stable transfer of power, an opposition spokesman said.
Saleh has been a key ally of the US, which has given him millions in counterterrorism aid to fight al-Qaida's branch in the country, which has plotted attacks on American soil.
The opposition over the weekend proposed to the US that Saleh step down and hand his powers to his vice president, who would then organize a process for rewriting the constitution and holding new polls, said Mustafa al-Sabri, a spokesman for a coalition of opposition parties. But Saleh is against the idea.
Witnesses described troops and gunmen, some on nearby rooftops, firing wildly on thousands of protesters who marched past the governor's headquarters in Taiz in the second straight day of violence in the southern city. Some - including elderly people - were trampled and injured as the crowds tried to flee, witnesses said.
Violence has swelled in recent days amid frustration over behind-the-scenes efforts to convince Saleh to step down in the face of a nearly two-month-old uprising. The United States and Europe have been contacting Saleh and his opponents, trying to find a formula for the president to leave with a stable transfer of power, an opposition spokesman said.
Saleh has been a key ally of the US, which has given him millions in counterterrorism aid to fight al-Qaida's branch in the country, which has plotted attacks on American soil.
The opposition over the weekend proposed to the US that Saleh step down and hand his powers to his vice president, who would then organize a process for rewriting the constitution and holding new polls, said Mustafa al-Sabri, a spokesman for a coalition of opposition parties. But Saleh is against the idea.
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