Friday, April 8, 2011

Protesters shot dead in southern Yemen

Two people have been killed after Yemeni security forces fired at protesters in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz, leaving more than two dozen others wounded.

Hospital sources said about 200 people were hurt after inhaling tear gas during Friday's protests..

Witnesses reported gunshots near the site of an anti-government sit-in in the flashpoint city to the south of Sanaa, while dozens of others suffered from bullet wounds or tear gas inhalation.

The protesters had been carrying the bodies of five people killed earlier in the week to their gravesites when they ran into security forces.

The fresh clashes on Friday between anti-government protesters and the police came as Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, rejected a new deal for him to leave after 32 years in power.

Some 21 people have died in clashes this week in Taiz and the Red Sea port of Hudaida.

In the port city of Aden, once the capital of an independent south, thousands of anti-government protesters gathered peacefully and in Hudaida, some 15,000 gathered to mourn protester deaths and demand Saleh step down.

Al Jazeera's special correspondent in Sanaa who is not being named for security reasons said scenes of Friday's pro-Saleh demonstrations in front of the presidential palace was very similar to those seen in recent weeks.

"It is very difficult for Al Jazeera to go anywhere near those protests, we have to rely on what we're seeing on Yemen state television … we can see the mass crowds turning out week after week.

"But according to some people in Change Square, where the rival protests are, those people are not there because they genuinely support Saleh but because they are either government forces dressed in civilian clothes or are being paid by the ruling party."

Our special correspondent says such accusations have been going around for weeks, with pro-democracy protesters saying that the more Saleh loses control the more he is seen firing on anti-government protesters to make sure his own supporters continue to attract a large crowds.

Protesters have been calling since January for the departure of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.

Offer rejected

Saleh initially accepted an offer by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states trying to broker an end to bloody protests and hold talks with the opposition.

But he later rejected the plan for his exit in a speech broadcast on state television on Friday.

"We were born free, and we have free will, and they have to respect our wishes. We reject any coup against democracy, the constitution and our freedom," he told supporters in the capital.Saleh said: "Our power comes from the power of our great people, not from Qatar, not from anyone else. This is blatant interference in Yemeni affairs."

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister, said on Thursday that members of the Gulf Co-operation Council "hope to reach a deal with the Yemeni president to step down."

However, Abu Bakr al-Kurbi, Yemen's foreign minister, said Yemen's government is studying an initiative by Gulf Arab states to end a months-long confrontation with anti-regime protesters, in a statement published on Friday.

Opposition groups had welcomed the Gulf countries' mediation offer.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Yemenis have converged in the capital for rival demonstrations - with some demanding the president's ouster and others showing their support.

Police and army units were deployed to prevent any friction between the two sides.

More than 120 people have been killed since Yemen's protests calling for an end to Saleh's rule began on February 11, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

The six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council has invited Saleh and the opposition to a mediation session in Saudi Arabia. But Saleh's government described the proposal as unconstitutional.

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