At least two people were killed and ten injured when police opened fire at people, who tried to join an anti-government protest in the southwest of Yemen, the Yemeni Post newspaper said on Monday.
A group of protestors, mainly students and teachers angered by salary cuts, have been protesting outside an education facility in Yemen’s third largest city of Taiz for about a month.
“They fired at us directly but we clashed with them and forced them to run away. And now were are protesting here safely,” Ma’an Al-Qirshi, a teacher, told the Yemeni Post by telephone.
Iran’s Press TV puts the death toll at three.
The English-language channel also said one person was killed and six injured as people took to streets in the western port city of Hudaydah to protest against fuel shortages.
From 140 to 300 people are estimated to have been killed in nationwide protests against the unpopular president Ali Abdullah Saleh, which have been ongoing since mid-January.
The ruling party has earlier approved an Arab-mediated national reconciliation deal, according to which Saleh was to resign within 30 days and hand power to the national unity government. Opposition criticized the deal for giving the president and his close relatives immunity from prosecution.
On May 6, opposition forces rejected the deal after Saleh refused to sign it personally.
MOSCOW, May 9 (RIA Novosti)