Yemen crackdown claims more victims

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173098.html

Yemeni government forces have reportedly gunned down more anti-government protesters across the country amid other reports of bloodshed at their hands.

The forces gunned down two protesters in the western port city of Hudaydah on Monday and injured dozens of others.

They targeted the demonstrators with tear gas canisters, putting hundreds in need of medical treatment.

An earlier report had pointed to plain-clothes gunmen's opening fire on protesters.

The day also saw government-led armed attacks in the southwestern city of Taiz, claiming the lives of at least 17 people and injuring dozens of others.

More than 300 people have been killed and thousands more wounded during the Sana'a-sanctioned armed attacks since popular revolution started to sweep throughout the country in January. The demonstrators have been calling for the ouster of President Ali Abduallah Saleh's regime.

The head of state has been in office for more than three decades with several opposition members arguing that his long-promised political and economic reforms have not materialized.

He has made it clear he has no immediate plans to step down.

Also on Monday, protesters took to the streets of the capital as well as the other southwestern city of Ibb.

In Sana'a, soldiers, who have sided with anti-regime protesters, intervened to prevent the police from taking on thousands of demonstrators. The police, however, shot dead an 18-year-old Yemeni protester, identified as Sadiq al-Haimy.

Opposition forces in the southern cities of Abyan and Dalea have ordered a general strike. And a civil disobedience campaign has also been underway in Aden, another southern city.