Yemeni Forces Kill 21 Protesters

Hammoud Mounassar The Age 05/30/2011 18:40

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Forces loyal to Yemen's embattled president have killed 21 protesters as they crushed a sit-in demonstration in Taez, an organiser says, on the same day as suspected al-Qaeda gunmen killed six soldiers in the south.

Security service agents backed by army and Republican Guards on Monday stormed the protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the city's Freedom Square, shooting at demonstrators and setting fire to their tents, protesters said.

"At least 20 protesters have been killed," one protest organiser said.

Another protester was killed when police and Republican Guards opened fire later Monday to prevent dozens of demonstrators from returning to the square, a protester said.

The four-month-old sit-in in Taez, south of the capital, Sanaa, was the longest-running protest against Saleh's rule.

Troops backed by tanks also stormed a field hospital and detained 37 of the wounded receiving treatment there, among hundreds rounded up as security forces pursued the protesters into nearby streets, medics and organisers said.

"This was a massacre. The situation is miserable. They have dragged the wounded off to detention centres from the streets," activist Bushra al-Maqtari told AFP.

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