Crackdown despite Saleh’s pledge to protect protesters
Yemeni police stormed a camp set up by thousands of protesters demanding the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule, killing one person and wounding hundreds early on Saturday, witnesses and medical sources said.
Witnesses told Reuters hundreds of security forces, wielding bats and knives and using potent teargas, invaded the area where protesters have been camping for weeks in the capital, Sanaa.
Doctors at the sit-in said police were blocking medical teams from entering the area and one doctor said a young boy had been fatally shot in the head. "We think around 300 are wounded," he told Reuters, declining to be named.
"By 3:00 am, security forces began to harass protesters, and started to dismantle tents and megaphones," protester Mohammed Saeed, 20, told AFP.
He said the forces had brought in reinforcements after protesters confronted them, and that by 5:30 am (0230 GMT) police fired live rounds and tear gas grenades.
A volunteering doctor at the square charged that the security forces used a poison gas whose type was difficult to determine, while treatment to deal with its effect was not available at the field clinic.
"These are not tear gases. These are poisonous gases that disable the nerve and respiratory systems. People hit by those gases pass out," said Iraqi doctor Hussein al-Joshaai, a nerve specialist.
Clashes between rock-throwing Saleh loyalists and protesters broke out late on Friday as the demonstrators tried to extend the area of the sit-in to make room for increasing numbers.
Witnesses said police smashed into the site in a pre-dawn raid as protesters were preparing for early morning prayers.
Protesters later broke down a fence police had put up to try and prevent more supporters from joining the sit-in, but men wielding daggers were stopping people from entering the area.
US backs Saleh
The brutal crackdown came despite Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s promise in a speech Thursday that he would protect demonstrators, whether they were for or against his rule.
Saleh also pledged to devolve power to parliament through constitutional reforms that would be voted on in a referendum later this year.
His offer appeared to bow to pressure after more than a month of violent protests, was swiftly rejected by the opposition, which is demanding his immediate resignation.
The United States was quick in hailing the offer by Saleh, a key ally of Washington in its war against Al-Qaeda which has been active in the south Arabian Peninsula country.
US President Barack Obama’s top anti-terror adviser John Brennan on Friday called Saleh to welcome his pledge and urged the opposition to support the plan.
"Brennan reiterated that representatives of all sectors of the Yemeni opposition should respond constructively to President Saleh’s call to engage in a serious dialogue to end the current impasse," the White House said in a statement.
Protesters have been calling on Saleh, in power since 1978, to step down despite his pledges of reform.
On Friday, 14 protesters were wounded, including three who appeared to have been shot with live bullets, when police attacked demonstrators in the southern city of Aden, on a day of anti-regime protests across the impoverished country.