ADEN: A passer-by was killed and three others were wounded when police opened fire to disperse protesters in the southern Yemeni city of Aden yesterday, witnesses and medical sources said.
The witnesses said police intervened to clear the roads in the flashpoint Crater district of the port city where dozens of southern activists had set up roadblocks as part of a “civil disobedience” campaign.
Medical sources confirmed the casualty toll, naming the dead man as Hisham Al Nunu from the city of Taez north of Aden.
Last morning, southern activists used rocks and logs to block main roads in several districts, where shops, banks and schools stayed closed, a correspondent said.
Normal activity returned to most areas later in the day, apart from Crater where the shootings triggered sporadic clashes between police and protesters, residents said.
Pro-autonomy groups have staged street protests every Wednesday and Saturday since February 21 in protest at killings of southern activists in confrontations with security forces.
On Friday night, a prison guard was killed and a colleague wounded in a gun attack as a police vehicle from Mansura prison arrived at the local hospital carrying a sick inmate. The assailants fled the scene.
On March 18, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi warned Yemenis against the use of force to express political views, as he opened a national dialogue to pave the way for the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
The dialogue, scheduled to run six months, brings together 565 representatives of Yemen’s various political groups.
AFP
