SANAA: At least 20 protesters were killed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday, when security forces opened fire on one of the biggest demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in recent months, a Reuters witness said.
Scores were wounded when protesters tried to break through lines of police who also sprayed them with tear gas as tens of thousands spilled out of Change Square, where many youths have camped out since early this year demanding an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule.
Injured protesters were rushed into a field hospital in the square on stretchers. "This is the worst day I’ve seen in three months. We’re expecting more dead to come in," said doctor Jamal Al-Hamdani, who was treating patients.
A Reuters witness saw dozens of men slumped on the ground, overcome by tear gas inhalation. Men on motorbikes and ambulances whisked them away from the scene.
Saleh, recovering in neighboring Saudi Arabia from a June assassination attempt, is holding onto power despite international pressure to quit and eight months of protests which have paralyzed the impoverished Arab state.
The Defense Ministry said on its website protesters threw petrol bombs, setting a police car ablaze. State media blamed gunmen belonging to opposition parties for opening fire on the march.
Frustrated by Saleh’s tenacity and their failure to dislodge him, protesters are seeking to ratchet up demonstrations, which have dragged into their eighth month.
"Escalation, escalation," they chanted, flooding side streets where there were large numbers of security forces and armed anti-Saleh tribesmen, who have thrown their weight behind the popular uprising.
"The pain and the bullet won’t be a problem," said one protester with a heavily bandaged foot. "What we need is to get rid of this regime … I could go on until they kill us all," Radwan Qasem, 37, told Reuters.
Earlier on Sunday, fighting broke out in a northern district of Sanaa, the latest breach of a ceasefire between tribesmen opposed to Saleh and troops loyal to him.
Shelling could be heard near the home of a prominent anti-Saleh tribal leader in the Hasaba district, the site of weeks of fighting. The family of Sadeq Al-Ahmar said the Republican Guard, commanded by Saleh’s son, had shelled their house.
The United States and Saudi Arabia fear unrest in Yemen will embolden al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional wing to launch strikes in the region and beyond.
On Thursday, mediators from neighboring Saudi Arabia intervened to help end the street fighting, which was the fiercest in recent weeks, diplomatic sources said. –Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari
