At least 84 activists wounded in Yemen

An injured Yemeni protester (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170497.html

At least 84 activists in Yemen have been wounded as security forces use live fire and tear gas on protesters demanding an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Anti-regime protesters in the southern city of Taiz said 80 people were wounded there on Thursday and four others were wounded in the capital Sana'a. But, state media, under strict control of government censorship, made no mention of the incidents.

Regime loyalists fired live bullets and tear gas on thousands of protesters demanding an end to President Saleh's decades-long rule.

The clashes erupted after regime loyalists threw rocks and used batons against anti-government protesters, Al Jazeera reported.

The violence comes a day after government forces killed eight opposition protesters, including five schoolgirls, in the cities of Hodeydah and Taiz.

The Arabian Peninsula state, neighbor to oil giant Saudi Arabia, has been hit by weeks of protests trying to shake loose the president's 32-year grip on power.

Several opposition members argue that Saleh's long-promised reforms have never materialized.

Despite massive nationwide rallies, the head of state has said he would stay in power until the end of his term in 2013.

Some 40 percent of Yemen's population lives on two dollars per day wage or less and a third of its population struggles with chronic hunger.