SANAA, 29 November 2004 — Two people, including a soldier, were killed and three others wounded in clashes between security forces and protesters outside a court in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, local officials said yesterday.
Witnesses said the armed clashes broke out Saturday when security forces tried to disperse demonstrators shooting in the air to protest a court verdict.
The court had ordered a policeman to pay blood money for his recent killing of a serviceman and a student, which protestors deemed too forgiving, witnesses said.
Bloody clashes are common in Yemen, a tribal nation where the civilian population owns an estimated 60 million guns, an average of more than three per inhabitant.
Tribal violence claims around 1,500 lives every year, according to unofficial estimates.
