http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/world/middleeast/yemeni-forces-fire-on-protesters-for-second-day.html

October 16, 2011

As Yemeni Revolt Escalates, Pro-Government Forces Fire on Protesters for a Second Day

By LAURA KASINOF

SANA, Yemen -- For the second day in a row, demonstrators in the capital escalated their protest by marching into government-held territory on Sunday, and for the second day in a row they were fired on by pro-government forces. At least five people were killed.

As the uprising appeared to enter a dangerous new phase, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has rebuffed pressure from the protesters, political rivals and foreign governments to step down, lashed out at Western governments in a televised speech before military leaders.

Days before an expected United Nations Security Council resolution on Yemen, Mr. Saleh accused Western leaders of not understanding the crisis, saying that they "just take their information from shows and from the opposition who considers itself oppressed and is vying for its own victory."

The Security Council may vote this week on a resolution that is expected to call on Mr. Saleh to cede power immediately, based on a proposal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional group led by Saudi Arabia, and backed by the United States. Diplomats said Russia and China might try to soften the language.

The latest international pressure comes as the protesters, who have been camping on the streets since February and have been frustrated by the political stalemate, have chosen to escalate their campaign by marching out of their protected sit-in area and into government strongholds.

They have been accompanied by soldiers loyal to a rebel military commander who say they are marching to protect the protesters.

But the presence of armed troops, members of a division that defected from the army, has provided the government with a new rationale for attacking the demonstrators and increased the prospect that the conflict will erupt into civil war.

Mr. Saleh, in his speech on Sunday, blamed the protesters for the surge of violence, saying that the soldiers belied the protesters' claim to be peaceful.

"O.K., how is it a peaceful march then, when behind them is the power of a rebel military, which is now an integral part of what are called demonstrators?" he said. "The outside world treats this as if it is a peaceful revolution against a political regime and does not see" the government's supporters.

Still, the pro-government forces have focused their fire over the last two days on unarmed demonstrators. At least 12 of them were killed Saturday when, as part of their new strategy, they approached a checkpoint near the Foreign Ministry.

On Sunday, snipers shot a woman in the head during a march in the central city of Taiz, according to a local doctor, Abdul-Rahim al-Samie. A YouTube video went up that shows young men carrying a woman off the street.

While women have been shot during previous protests, such shootings are rare, particularly if, as the protesters say, the woman in Taiz was killed intentionally.

In Sana, the protesters marched into the pro-government residential neighborhood of Al Qa'a and were attacked by rooftop snipers, the protesters said.

They continued to march toward the Foreign Ministry, where they were fired on by pro-government tribesmen while Central Security forces stood nearby and did nothing, the protesters said.

At least five people were killed, including three protesters and two soldiers.

At the field hospital in the sit-in area, a crowd gathered around the bodies in a corner on the floor, Korans placed atop their chests. About 10 protesters with bullet wounds lay on stretchers waiting to be seen by the volunteer medical staff.

"It's a criminal government; that's why they shoot at us," said Wuheib Salah, who was feeding chicken and rice to a friend who had been shot in the leg. "If this were a just government, then it wouldn't be shooting its civilians."

"Look, no weapons," he said, opening his jacket.

Sana is a divided city, about a quarter of it under the control of opposition tribesmen and members of the First Armored Division led by Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, who defected to the opposition in March after government-linked snipers killed more than 50 unarmed protesters. Since then, his troops have guarded the main sit-in area near the gates of Sana University.

In recent weeks, his troops have joined the protests, walking alongside the protesters down the main stretch of tents at the sit-in, as well as on their marches outside of that area.

Haeel, a neighborhood on the southwestern edge of the sit-in, has turned into a battleground between his troops and government forces.

General Ahmar and other military officers who support the uprising released a statement on Saturday saying that the government was trying to create the impression "that the remnants of the regime are facing an armed war" to deflect attention from the fact that they were attacking peaceful protesters.

Sultan al-Radhae, 30, a youth organizer who was in Al Qa'a on Sunday when the protest was attacked, said that General Ahmar's soldiers fired only in defense of the protesters.

"When the thugs start shooting at the protesters, they cannot stand idle," he said. "The First Armored Division felt the obligation to help stop the thugs from shooting the protesters by protecting them."

But the new strategy adopted by the protesters has clearly changed the dynamic and the risk, and many protesters say that after eight months of peaceful sit-ins, they are prepared to die.

"We need to escalate," said Amed Qahtan, a lawyer who was at the demonstration on Sunday. "We want this to be over with."