Clashes Reported in Western City in Yemen

[Jmaxfie1]

Source: NY Times

SANA, Yemen — Hundreds of antigovernment protesters clashed with security forces and government supporters on Wednesday in the impoverished western port city of Hodeidah, according to local reports.

The reports said that men in plainclothes attacked the protesters, who were staging a sit-in in the center of the city, and that security forces intervened, using tear gas. About 10 protesters were shot with live ammunition, and hundreds were injured from tear gas and rocks.

On Thursday, clashes broke out between government supporters and protesters in Sana, the capital. Two protesters were injured by gunfire, according to Adel al-Suraby, a spokesperson for the student group leading the demonstration. The official Saba news agency reported that tens of thousands of supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh had marched in Hodeidah on Wednesday. The demonstrators “called on the political powers to adopt a peaceful dialogue to end the current crisis and maintain the nation’s unity and security,” Saba said.

In the past month, protests against President Saleh’s leadership have been widening and growing more violent. On Monday, antigovernment tribesmen in northern Yemen killed four soldiers after troops opened fire on demonstrators, and a provincial governor was stabbed after his bodyguards shot at protesters, local reports said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/middleeast/18yemen.html