Tuesday, September 20, 2011

350 injured in bloodiest day of Yemen uprising



Hospitals in Sana'a unable to cope with the number of casualties as security forces clashed [??] with anti-government groups

Hakim al-Masmari in Sana'a and Martin Chulov
The Guardian, Monday 19 September 2011

"For the past few weeks Change Square in Sana'a has belonged to Yemen's young revolutionaries. It has been filled with dancing and singing to protest against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

But there was no singing on Monday. Instead, the square was filled with the echoes of gunfire and screams as the young demonstrators carried injured friends to safety, their blood dripping in a long crimson trail that led to the field hospital.

It was one of the bloodiest days yet in Yemen's nine-month uprising, with more than 22 killed and at least 350 wounded. The carnage followed an attack on Sunday that left 30 dead and set the scene for the violence that has broken new ground in the stand-off between anti-government groups and loyalist security forces....

The youth of Yemen, who have been a driving force behind attempts to remove Saleh and his regime from office after three decades, this week lamented that their revolution had persistently played second fiddle to the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, which had captured international imagination and won broad regional appeal. "Nine whole months protesting in the streets under the burning sunlight, and still no one appreciates our peaceful efforts," said Nujood Saleh, a youth activist in Sana'a.

"The Libyan revolution succeeded by the use of force while we are still suffering. We insist on peaceful strategies to achieve freedom and democracy."

Another activist had a different take on events from here.

"We are not scared to use weapons, said Abdullah Mujalli. "But we know that the crisis is like a matchstick. When it burns it will burn everything around it – and quickly.""

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