Yemen security forces fire on protesters

Yemeni security forces have opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the capital Sanaa, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more, medics said.
Security forces used live rounds as well as tear gas and water cannons to try to disperse hundreds of thousands who were attempting to march on the city centre from their stronghold in Change Square, witnesses said on Saturday.
Protesters have been gathering in Sanaa for months to demand the resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the embattled Yemeni president who continues to defy domestic and international pressure to quit.
A special correspondent in Yemen, who cannot be named for security reasons, said a huge rally was marching along a motorway in the north of the city towards the centre when they were attacked by pro-government supporters.

‘Killed by snipers’

“It started off with a few sporadic shots with Kalashnikov [rifles], then the sound of heavy machine guns and heavy mortars,” our correspondent said.
“I have seen people rushed into the back of cars with blood pouring from their chests, the shooting is still ongoing, and I expect the death toll to rise.”
“The protesters are still marching and they have reached a place called Zubeiri or Kentucky roundabout, where a lot of the clashes have been taken place in the last few weeks.”
Our special correspondent said that the protesters were carrying olive leaves and none of them had appeared to be armed.
Meanwhile, Tariq Noman, the chief surgeon at a field hospital in Sanaa, confirmed that they have received the bodies of protesters, as well as treated more than 100 injured people.
Noman told Al Jazeera that most of the dead were shot by by snipers in the head, the chest and neck.
He added that the field hospital was still receiving severely injured people and they expected the death toll to increase in the next few hours.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies