ADEN: Clashes between police and protesters in the tightly-patrolled city of Aden in southern Yemen wounded four people, a local official and medics told AFP.
"Four people were wounded as clashes broke out (late Saturday) when dozens blocked the roads and burned tires in Crater district demanding the release of three young men detained over criminal charges," said Awad Mubjer, an official in Aden.
He said that the crowds were angered because the men were kept in detention even though the public prosecutor had ordered their release.
Medical sources also said that four people were wounded, one seriously.
Witnesses said that security reinforcements were dispatched to the area.
Due to massive police deployment in Aden, the situation is generally calm in Aden, the main city in Yemen’s south.
But the rest of Yemen’s southern provinces, which formed an independent state before 1990, are usually the site of frequent protests with calls ranging from economic and social improvements to full independence.
The impoverished country’s south was independent from 1967 until 1990 when it united with the north. The south seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived conflict that ended when the south was overrun by northern troops.
