18 dead as Yemeni forces fire on protesters
Sunday September 18, 2011 11:41:31 PM,
IANS
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Sanaa: The deaths from
an attack by the Yemeni government forces on protesters marching
Sunday in the capital to demand President Ali Abdullah Saleh's
resignation have risen to 18, medics said, adding that the number
of injured has risen to more than 100.
"As many as 18 protesters were confirmed killed by gunshots of
pro-Saleh armed forces and more than 100 others were injured, most
of whom were in critical conditions," a doctor working at a field
hospital at the Changing Square near Sanaa University told Xinhua.
"The 18 were shot in the heads and necks," the doctors said, as
the injured were still arriving at the hospital.
"Government forces backed by armed thugs hired by Saleh's ruling
party intercepted the peaceful march in a street near the building
of the General Authority of Electricity in Al-Zira'aa neighborhood
and heavily fired live ammunition of various heavy weapons and
tear gas on the protesters," an eyewitness named Hassan told
Xinhua.
The armless protesters confronted the attack and set on fire two
armoured vehicles of the government forces, Hassan and other
eyewitnesses said.
A ruling party official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity
"when the protesters arrived at the end of Al-Zira'aa Street, many
of them stormed the government building of the General Authority
of Electricity and set it on fire."
Several eyewitnesses, however, confirmed that "the ruling party's
hired thugs were behind the attack against the electricity
building, as well as another group of the thugs climbed onto the
rooftop of the electricity building and opened heavy fire on the
protesters."
Yemen has gripped by eight-month political crisis since the
eruption of the protest in late January to demand an immediate end
to the 33-year rule of Saleh.
Tensions have soared recently with heavy deployment of rival armed
forces in the streets of Sanaa and other major provinces.
Saleh, who is still in Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation for
injuries sustained in an attack on his palace in early June,
issued a decree last week to authorize his deputy Abd-Rabbu
Mansour Hadi to sign the power-transition deal brokered by the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after launching a dialogue with the
opposition to set a timetable and a mechanism to transfer power.
Saleh's move is welcome by the United States, which said Thursday
that "there were encouraging signs for the GCC deal to be
accomplished within one week." The opposition, however, insists
that Saleh should sign the deal before any dialogue is launched.
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