Violence Erupts In Yemen Protests
Robert Siegel provides on update on the anti-government protests in Yemen, which turned violent today. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators had gathered at Sanaa University in the capital. They had just finished noon prayers when bullets rained down from nearby rooftops. Reports say between 30 and 40 protesters were killed - and more than 100 injured.
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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
We turn briefly now to Yemen, where protests took a violent turn today. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators had gathered at Sana'a University in the capital. They had just finished noon prayers when bullets rained down from nearby rooftops. Reports say between 30 and 40 protesters were killed, and more than 100 injured, though the country's interior minister insists that those numbers are inflated.
Also in dispute is who did the shooting? Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said, we the police were not present and did not open fire. The New York Times reports that the rooftop snipers were, and I quote, "government supporters in plain clothes," and that the country's security forces also fired into protesters in an effort to contain the demonstration.
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