Monday, March 14, 2011
Hammoud Mounassar
Agence France Presse

SANAA: The U.S. expressed deep concern over escalating violence in Yemen, where at least three people were killed in bloody clashes between security forces and protesters Sunday.
Dozens were injured when police and loyalists of the ruling General People’s Congress party attacked protesters in Sanaa’s University Square with live gunfire and tear gas, witnesses said.
Six demonstrators were shot in the head in clashes with police overnight in the southern city of Aden. Two died of their wounds, medical officials said.

Witnesses said police sharpshooters fired on demonstrators from rooftops in the city as protesters attacked and burned a police station and chanted slogans calling for the fall of the regime.
A 25-year-old protester was also killed Sunday evening as security forces opened fire on people who had set fire to another police station in Aden and looted its weapons, including assault rifles, a hospital source said.

The deaths brought the toll since Saturday to eight as pro-democracy opposition groups and students escalated their campaign to oust the autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh after 32 years in power.
The U.S. joined Britain, the EU and the U.N. in condemning the violence, in a country where U.S. special forces are helping train local units engaged against Al-Qaeda’s offshoot in the Arabian Peninsula.

“The U.S. strongly condemns the violence that has taken place in Yemen and Bahrain [Sunday]. We urge the governments of these countries to show restraint, and to respect the universal rights of their people,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the “excessive use of force” against peaceful demonstrators and urged all sides to engage in dialogue, his spokesman said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said late Saturday the violence against demonstrators was “unacceptable” and called on all British citizens to leave the country. “This is in direct contradiction to the president’s recent announcement on constitutional reform and fresh elections, which we have welcomed,” Hague said.

Saleh promised Thursday to protect protesters from violence and offered a referendum on a new constitution.
The U.S., which sees Saleh as a pillar of stability in the deeply tribal nation, welcomed the gesture, but Yemen’s parliamentary opposition says the president must resign this year.

In the capital Sanaa, thousands more demonstrators demanding democratic reform, jobs and an end to corruption poured into University Square despite fierce clashes there Saturday in which one person was killed.

The square has become a cauldron of dissent since Feb. 21, when a pro-democracy tent city was set up there.
Streets to the square were blocked with tents earlier Sunday, many flying flags denoting the provinces of demonstrators who have come from around the country to join the movement.
More than 30 protesters were wounded by gunfire and tear gas Saturday morning as police tried to push the campers back into the square.