Yemen Protests Leave 33 or More Dead on Friday

Mar 18, 2011, 08:42

In Yemen, clashes between thousands of anti-government protesters and Yemeni security forces Friday in the city of Sanaa resulted in at least 33 deaths, medical officials said.

Medical personnel on the scene said more than 100 people were injured in the confrontation outside Sanaa University in the Yemeni capital, CNN reported.

Witnesses said the fighting began after government supporters and anti-government demonstrators threw rocks at each other. Security forces fired their guns into the air and then into the crowd, witnesses said.

Tear gas canisters also were deployed as security forces tried to disperse the crowd, CNN said.

Witnesses told the BBC they saw armed men stationed on the roofs of nearby buildings.

For weeks, protesters, fueled by anger over high unemployment and government corruption, have been calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. Thousands of people have protested regularly in Yemen's capital and the cities of Aden, Taiz and elsewhere.

Saleh, in office for 32 years, has said he won't seek re-election in 2013.

Source: UPI