Sanaa - Yemeni forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired at a protest march in Sanaa on Sunday, wounding at least 10 people, doctors said, heightening tension as opposition leaders prepared to meet Gulf Arab mediators.
Doctors said around 200 more demonstrators were overcome by teargas when they marched outside their normal protest zone in the streets near Sanaa University, a hub of pro-democracy demonstrations that have lasted three months.
“We neared the Sanaa Trade Centre when police confronted us with teargas, and suddenly opened heavy gunfire on us from all directions,” said Sabry Mohammed, a protester. “A state of terror set in among the demonstrators, and some of them fled into side streets.”
Both Western and Gulf Arab allies have tried without success so far to broker a resolution to a crisis over a transition of power from Saleh, who has led the Arabian Peninsula state for 32 years and says he wants a handover, but only to “safe hands”.
Saudi and Western allies of Yemen fear a prolonged standoff could ignite clashes between rival military units and cause chaos that would benefit an active al-Qaeda wing operating in the poor, mountainous country.
Hundreds of security forces deployed across the area near where the clashes took place on Algeria Street in Sanaa, roughly 2km outside the normal protest zone. Some were on foot while others were in armoured vehicles.
The wounded were rushed to hospital by ambulance and private car, and tear gas canisters littered the road. A protest official told anti-Saleh crowds over a loudspeaker that dozens of protesters had been arrested by a nearby mosque.
Clashes also were reported to have taken place in Dhamar, just south of the capital.
A political survivor who has described governing Yemen as akin to “dancing on the heads of snakes”, Saleh has warned of civil war and the break-up of the country if he is forced out.
More than 116 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces since late January. - Reuters