Yemen’s opposition accused the regime of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday of savagely massacring peaceful protesters in a bid to derail a Gulf-led transition plan. A day after at least 14 protesters were killed across the country, the Joint Forum condemned the violence as “a savage massacre committed by the authorities and the militia of the ruling family against peaceful demonstrators.”
The deadliest violence was in the capital Sanaa as troops opened fire to break up protests, killing 13 people and wounding more than 130, medical officials said. Another person was killed in the country’s south. Some of the protesters were attacked with daggers, they said. Government officials said “tens of supporters of the government” were also wounded. “This massacre shows that the regime is determined to continue with the bloodshed and defeat the agreement (initiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council),” said the Forum, a coalition of opposition parties.
It appealed to Gulf countries to do more to “protect peaceful demonstrators” rather than “provide protection to the killings of the regime.” The Forum warned that it would be difficult for them to go ahead with the planned signing of the transition agreement in Riyadh in the coming days unless the crackdown was ended.