Five Wounded in Lahj Protest
later reports put the figure at eight wounded
SANAA (AFP) — Five people, including a young boy, were wounded in southern Yemen on Tuesday when police fired on demonstrators demanding the release of more than 80 people arrested during previous protests, witnesses said.
Dozens of demonstrators were also detained during the new protest, in Radfan in southern Lahij province, the witnesses told AFP.
Police fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse the march, they said.
Besides demanding the release of scores of people held since demonstrations in southern provinces earlier this year, the protestors also called for an end to the trials of three senior members of the opposition Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) and 36 other people who were charged in connection with the turmoil.
Hassan Baoum, a member of the YSP’s political bureau, YSP central committee member Yehya Ghaleb al-Shuaibi and activist Ali Haitham al-Ghareeb were charged with inciting protests which led to clashes with police in March and April.
Defence lawyers call their trial, which began in May, politically-motivated.
Authorities have blamed the wave of protests on the YSP, the former ruling party in southern Yemen.
