Video: Yemeni Security Shoots Protesters in Aden, Five Wounded
Five seriously injured from gunfire, dozens ill from tear gas and over 50 arrested.
IHT: Riot police in Yemen wounded five demonstrators in the southern city of Aden when they opened fire to disperse a crowd of thousands of army veterans demanding their old jobs back, said Yemeni hospital officials….After Yemen’s 1994 civil war, many soldiers from the southern part of the country fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia, returning only when the government issued an amnesty and promised to readmit them to the army — a promise southern Yemenese say has not been kept.
That’s not actually what’s going on. Since the civil war, southerners allege they have been treated like a vanquished enemy. Protests in the south broke out a year ago calling for an end to the discrimination and theft of property. The Yemeni regime, dominated by President Saleh’s family and northern tribal allies, responded with violence and arrests, further inflaming tensions. Public opinion developed a strong separatist sentiment in light of the fact that the government is unable and unwilling to reform. Yemen is in the bottom five for poverty globally, largely a result of massive corruption, and child hunger is at a critical level. The following video shows people being shot in the street earlier today and is graphic. This happens at nearly every protest, security forces randomly shooting into the crowd. Here is the link and to follow the embedded version.
Update: Back-up copy of the vid available. Thanks Howie!
Update 2: One dead, four wounded, 50 arrested.
