Two Yemeni demonstrators were killed Sunday and 13 others injured when police opened fire on thousands of people who were holding a demonstration that turned violent in this southern port city, hospital officials and witnesses said.
Medics at the Wihda Hospital and al-Gomhuria hospital confirmed that two people were killed and said some of the injured were in critical condition. They spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that police fired shots in the air to disperse the demonstrators who shouted anti-government slogans. It did not say whether anyone was killed or injured, but said the demonstration was not approved in advance by the police.
Opposition parties had called for the demonstration to commemorate the first anniversary of an initiative for reconciliation and forgiveness among the political parties who engaged in the 12-day bloody civil war in 1986 in the former South Yemen that left 10,000 dead. North and South Yemen merged in 1990 under the current President Ali Abdulla Saleh.
Witness said some 30,000 people took part in the demonstration and that police prevented journalists and television stations from covering the event. They said police detained several people and that the most violent clashes took part in al-Hashimi neighborhood in the Souk Othman district.
Yassin Said Numan, the secretary-general of the influential opposition Socialist Party that once ruled South Yemen, called for a peaceful demonstration in statements published Sunday and warned the government not to use violence against the protesters.
Several southern cities and towns have had continued demonstrations and protests since August by former army members in southern Yemen demanding political reforms. The protests underline the increased tensions between southern and northern Yemen years after rebels announced the secession of the south in 1994 and battled northern forces for several months in the civil war that ended in their defeat.
Some 60,000 southern servicemen were discharged from the army, and many of them fled abroad. Most have since returned, attracted by amnesty and promises they would be allowed to re-enlist. But many have not been allowed back into the military, which is dominated by northerners.
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