SANAA, 21 July 2005 — At least ten people were killed in Yemen yesterday as protests against fuel price hikes turned violent and rioters stormed government buildings in several cities.
Hospital sources said four people were killed in Sanaa and six others died in other provinces. In Sanaa, thousands of protesters smashed cars and threw stones at buildings including the Cabinet and the headquarters of the ruling General People’s Congress party.
Demonstrators also brought Sanaa to a standstill blocking streets and setting tires on fire across the city. Shots could be heard in various parts of Sanaa, and riot police used teargas to disperse angry demonstrators near the Cabinet building. Protesters set several cars ablaze and smashed windows of government buildings, banks and private companies.
On Tuesday, the government raised the prices of oil derivatives by up to 260 percent as part of a restructuring program agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1995.
The Cabinet decided to raise the price of petrol by 90 percent to 1,300 rials ($6.75) per gallon and diesel by 260 percent to 900 rials ($4.68) a gallon. Kerosene prices shot up by 250 percent to 900 rials per gallon and cooking gas by 100 percent to 400 rials ($2) per cylinder. The price hikes came into effect at midnight Tuesday.
Violent demonstrations also took place in the southern province of Dhalea where five of the ten dead were killed and the central province of Dhamar where one protester died. Public transportation fares in Sanaa and between cities rose by 100 percent, despite a Transportation Ministry’s announcement that set the rise at only 25 percent.
Government officials said Tuesday’s subsidy cut has been delayed from 2002. “What kind of reforms are these that make us more poor?” asked one protester in the Attahrir Square in downtown Sanaa.
“Is this how they reward us for giving them our votes in the elections?” he asked.
Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been reducing government subsidies on basic foodstuffs and fuel utilities since early 1995 under pressure from international donors.
In June 1998, similar price hikes sparked nationwide riots that left 52 people dead and hundreds wounded.
