Despite the president's promise that troops would fire only in self-defense, different squads of the Yemeni security forces used live ammunition and fired tear gas as they tried to prevent people from joining thousands of protesters who have camped out for almost a month in front of Sanaa University.
A demonstrator was reportedly killed on Wednesday and more than 80 protesters were injured, local medics said. Many observers said police used excessive force that could escalate the anti-regime resentment and spark more protests.
Mohammed Qahtan, an opposition spokesman, apportioned blame to the country's leadership.
"The crime was carried out by Central Security forces and the Republican Guard against the protesters and the doctors who rushed to treat them. The attack is an indicator of the beginning of the end of the regime."
Qahtan called upon local and international human right organizations to take a record of the violations against the protesters as to prosecute them for their crimes.
However police have a different explanation, saying that that a group of protesters tried to camp out in front of a children's school on Huria Street and police moved in to prevent them from blocking access to the school.
"That group of protesters then attacked the police and armed opposition gunmen joined them and started to fire on the police," said an anonymous police official. "Many police were injured in the attack."
The source blamed militant rebels, Al-Qaeda members and others for bringing weapons to the protesters camps.
Another security source said that tribal gunmen from Khowlan district were among the protesters that had fired randomly in the crowd, causing a stampede where three protesters and three policemen were trampled.
The recent bloody clashes with police broke the peace that the protesters have enjoyed over the last two weeks.
For the second day, Parliament formed on Wednesday a second committee to look into the clashes. Parliament also ordered the ministries of Education and Labor of to prevent civil servants and students from protesting in the streets.
The Ministry of Defense claimed that Al-Qaeda members were present in the crowds.
