Yemen calls state of emergency after protest massacre

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110318/wl_nm/us_yemen

Yemen calls state of emergency after protest massacre

By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari Mohamed Sudam And Mohammed Ghobari – 44

mins ago

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen's beleaguered president declared a state of emergency on

Friday after at least 25 protesters were killed at an anti-government rally,

saying armed groups rather than the police were behind the violence.

Medical sources and witnesses had told Reuters that Yemeni security forces and

unidentified snipers had opened fire on the crowds after Muslim prayers in the

capital, Sanaa.

The interior ministry put the death toll at 25, but doctors said 42 people had

died and at least 300 were injured.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, struggling to maintain his 32-year grip on power

in the impoverished nation, denied that his police were to blame and said the

deaths happened during clashes between various protesters.

He declared a state of emergency, saying this meant that ordinary citizens would

not be able to carry weapons.

Yemen, which is home to an active al Qaeda cell, is the second country in the

region to announce emergency rule this week, following Bahrain's introduction of

martial law on Tuesday which was followed by a major crackdown on protesters.

However, it was not immediately clear if Saleh had the military power to impose

such an order, with the Arabian Peninsula nation deeply divided and wracked by

weeks of civil disturbance that have left well over 70 people dead.

Witnesses said security forces at first fired into the air on Friday to prevent

anti-government protesters from marching out of the encampment in front of Sanaa

University, which has become the focal point of the demonstration movement.

After the initial gunfire, the shooting continued and the toll mounted. It was

not clear who was responsible for the deaths, with witnesses saying firing

appeared to come from different directions.

" The police were not present and did not open fire. The clashes happened between

citizens and demonstrators, " Saleh told a news conference. " It is clear there

are armed elements among the demonstrators. "

AMERICAN CONDEMNATION

The United States, which has long seen Saleh as a bulwark against al Qaeda,

condemned the bloodshed and repeated its call for a negotiated end to the

political crisis.

" The violence needs to end, negotiations need to be pursued in order to reach a

political solution, " Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters after

meeting Ireland's deputy prime minister in Washington.

However, after the deaths, Yemen's opposition said there was no way they could

negotiate with Saleh's government.

" We condemn these crimes, " said Yassin Noman, rotating president of Yemen's

umbrella opposition group.

" There is no longer any possibility of mutual understanding with this regime and

he (Saleh) has not choice but to surrender authority to the people. "

Tens of thousands of Yemenis had gathered in Sanaa for competing prayers and

protesters accused plainclothes snipers of firing on the crowds from rooftops.

" The youth stormed one of the buildings and arrested seven snipers who were

firing on the demonstrators, " said activist Mohamed al-Sharaby.

Saleh has promised to step down in 2013 and offered a new constitution giving

more powers to parliament, but he has refused his critics' main demand to quit

immediately.

A string of Saleh's allies have recently defected to the protesters, who are

frustrated by rampant corruption and soaring unemployment. Some 40 percent of

the population live on $2 a day or less in Yemen, and a third face chronic

hunger.

(Writing by ston and Crispian Balmer, editing by Samia Nakhoul)