Yemen’s Security Forces Clash With Protesters at Funeral Procession for a Popular Activist

nytimes.com

25 06 2011

SANA, Yemen — Security forces fired at a funeral procession in the city of Aden on Friday and gunmen responded by attacking a military tank, the government and local journalists said. A total of five people were killed in the clashes.

Thousands of people gathered for the funeral of an activist in the southern separatist movement after noon prayers in Aden, a southern port city, according to witnesses. The activist, Ahmed Darwish, was tortured to death by Yemeni security forces about a year ago, according to several human rights groups.

Mr. Darwish’s family had refused to bury him until those responsible were held accountable. A former local official has now been charged in his killing.

When the security forces opened fire on the funeral procession in the Mansoura neighborhood of Aden, Jiyab al-Saadi, the son of a famous southern separatist leader, was killed, the media in Aden reported.

A short time later, fighting broke out between security forces and armed men in the same area. The Ministry of Defense said in a statement on its Web site that three soldiers were killed in the fighting when what the ministry described as “terrorists believed to be from Al Qaeda” used a car bomb to attack a military checkpoint.

Two local journalists described the episode differently, however, saying that there had been a short gun battle and then the gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank. They said that the gunmen were likely to have been from the southern separatist movement and were retaliating for the killing of Mr. Saadi. A bystander was shot and killed during the clash, according to a police officer. Read more…

~ par Alain Bertho sur 25 juin 2011.

Publié dans émeutes, riots, الشغب