Sana'a: Azizah Abdu Othman of the Yemeni city of Taez has become the first woman reported to be killed in the nine-month uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Also yesterday, government forces, backed by armed gunmen in plain clothes, killed five protesters and injured 45 in the second straight day of violence in the capital, a human rights activist told Gulf News by telephone.
Abdul Rahman Barman, an activist in The National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD), an independent human rights NGO, said the organisers of the protest had called in local human rights groups and independent media as observers.
"The protest was peaceful. When they arrived on Al Zubiri street, government-paid snipers in plain clothes on rooftops opened fire on the crowd of tens of thousands of protesters. Observers reported seeing 11 government gunmen firing on the protesters from the building of the ministry of interior," Barman said.
More brutality
He added that the attacks were more brutal yesterday. "We have recorded the names of those responsible behind the killings of the protesters and we have a file to be presented to national and international criminal courts."
Seventeen protesters were killed and 200 were injured in two consecutive days of violence, he said.
Mohammad Al Qubati, who works at a field hospital in Change Square, the epicentre of protests in Sana'a, said five protesters were critical. "Most of the injuries are to the upper parts of the body: chests, necks, and heads have all received heavy weapon fire," he said.
Yesterday morning, the Organising Committee of the Peaceful Revolution drummed up supporters and vowed to step up protests until Saleh's regime falls.
Still defiant
Meanwhile, Saleh sent another contradictory remark by accusing the opposition of trying to exploit the GCC-brokered peace deal to snatch power from him, signalling that he would leave power after elections.
"Their aim from the GCC initiative is only one thing, which is our signature and when we leave power, they will create a crisis and form a military council to run the country," Saleh said during his meeting yesterday with senior security officials in Sana'a.
"Whoever wants to come to power should introduce himself as a reformist, not as a bandit or a killer."
