Protester shot dead in Yemen's fresh rally

[News_Editor]

Protester shot dead in Yemen's fresh rally

2011-02-20 02:25:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANAA (BNO NEWS) -- One protester was killed and five others injured in clashes with Yemeni government supporters at Sanaa University on Saturday, the Yemen post reported.

Government supporters, armed with guns, batons and rocks, tried to break into the campus and students responded by hurling stones.

On Saturday, the ninth consecutive day of protests in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused the opposition of carrying out foreign agendas against Yemen.

"There are foreign agendas and there is a plot against Yemen and its security and stability," he said during the celebration of the founding conference of Civil Society Organizations.



Saleh added that the events that happened in Aden during the past days were against the law and undemocratic.


Demonstrators, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, rallied on Friday in the streets of the southern port city of Aden demanding the ouster of President Saleh. Four people were killed after security forces attempted to disperse the demonstrators by using tear gas, batons and stun guns. Another protester was killed in the same city on Wednesday in clashes with police.

Yemen's parliament expressed on Saturday its regrets for the victims of the demonstrations. It rejected any outlaw sabotage and violence as well as attempts to disturb the country's security and stability. The parliament also refused the promotion of hatred and regionalism culture and called on security forces to protect citizens, the state-run Saba news agency reported.

Meanwhile, southern politicians living in exile attacked the Saleh regime, saying it is inciting violence and hiring bullies to attack anti-government protesters, the Yemen Post reported.

Yemen's ongoing unrest began after Tunisian ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali escaped to Saudi Arabia, but it has gathered momentum with the success of Egypt's revolution.

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