According to witness and medical personnel, Yemeni security forces and plainclothes snipers rooftops shot and killed up to 42 protesters at an anti-government rally in Sanaa after Muslim prayers on Friday
President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a state of emergency. Also, at least 300 were injured.
“I express my extreme sorrow for what happened today after Friday prayers in the university district.”
— President Ali Abdullah Saleh
Saleh denied the shooters were police, and declared a 30-day state of emergency that gives wider powers to security forces and bars citizens from bearing arms in public.
Yemen is the second country in the region to announce emergency rule this week. Bahrain’s introduced martial law on Tuesday, which was followed by a major crackdown on protesters.
Over 70 people have been killed in several weeks of civil disturbances.
About 40 percent of the population in Yemen live on $2 a day or less, and a third face chronic hunger.