Gunfire Erupts During New Clashes in Yemen
Reuters
Anti-government protesters carried an injured protester during further clashes in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz on Tuesday.
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
Published: April 5, 2011
SANA, Yemen — A day after more than 10 protesters were killed by gunfire in the central city of Taiz, security forces and armed men in civilian clothes clashed on Tuesday with antigovernment demonstrators for a third day there, opening fire on crowds calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, witnesses said.
Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press
An injured anti-government protestor gestured as he arrived at a field hospital during clashes in Sana,Yemen, on Tuesday.
The clashes began in roughly the same area of the city where the protesters were killed Monday, the deadliest day so far in six weeks of demonstrations demanding the immediate ouster of Mr. Saleh. As protesters marched down a central street on Tuesday, they encountered the security forces and plainclothes government supporters, and witnesses said military helicopters flew over the demonstration as the violence broke out. Clouds of tear gas rose over the street.
“The thugs and the security forces fired on us with live gunfire,” said Mahmud al-Shaobi, 33, a protester who spoke by telephone and said he had been there when the violence began. “Many people were shot.”
Gunfire also erupted in Sana, the capital, near the headquarters of Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, a top military leader who broke with Mr. Saleh last month to support the antigovernment demonstrators.
Witnesses described an exchange of fire between armed government supporters, some of who fired from their cars, and General Ahmar’s soldiers. The official Saba news agency said that the gunfire came only from General Ahmar’s soldiers and that they opened fire on a peaceful march of pro-government tribesman, killing three and wounding at least 15. But a spokesman for General Ahmar said in a statement that the soldiers moved to prevent the Saleh supporters from breaking into the general’s headquarters without acknowledging any gunfire by the soldiers.
Witnesses said that a group of about 400 protesters, who had peeled away from the main antigovernment demonstration and marched toward the headquarters, became caught up in the fighting. Doctors at a nearby hospital said that at least two people died from bullet wounds, one a protester and one a Saleh supporter.
The United States has grown increasingly wary of the escalating violence in Yemen, an ally against Al Qaeda in the region. Some American officials have raised doubts privately that by clinging to power in the face of sustained protests across the country, Mr. Saleh is contributing to Yemen’s dangerous instability. Counterterrorism operations in the country, a key reason for the United States’ backing of Mr. Saleh, have ground to a halt, American diplomats and counterterrorism officials said.
On Monday, a State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, called the violence in Yemen “appalling.”
The fresh clashes on Tuesday came as the provincial governor of Taiz said that he would form a committee to investigate the “unfortunate events” of the previous day. Witnesses said security forces and government supporters opened fire on Monday from rooftops and the street on tens of thousands of protesters. But the government has suggested that the deaths occurred during an exchange of gunfire between the plainclothes government supporters and armed protesters.
“We express our deep regret for the deviation from peaceful protests,” the governor, Hamoud al-Soufi, said in a statement. He accused the protesters of attacking both the presidential palace and other government buildings on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation regional coalition, invited the government and opposition parties to Riyadh for talks on ending the crisis in Yemen, according to Saba, the official state news agency. Mr. Saleh welcomed the invitation; his political opposition did not immediately respond.
In the western port city of Al Hudaydah on Monday, two protesters were killed in the evening by gunfire from plainclothes government supporters during a march on the presidential palace there. Saba confirmed the deaths.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and J. David Goodman from New York.
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