SANA, Yemen — A crackdown that killed dozens failed to stop massive demonstrations against Yemen’s U.S.- backed ruler, as crowds of thousands clashed Saturday with security forces smashing their protest camps and even seized control of one southern city.
In the capital, the government had to bring out tank units and other military forces to protect key buildings as crowds swelled. Protesters also stood their ground in the southern city of Mualla, surging out of their destroyed encampment and encircling a police station.
More than a month of daily protests calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption have presented President Ali Abdullah Saleh with the most dire challenge to his 32 years of running Yemen, a deeply impoverished land of restive tribes and numerous conflicts on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
In the bloodiest single day of the uprising, Yemeni forces Friday killed 46 people and wounded hundreds in the capital. Snipers fired on demonstrators from rooftops. That prompted condemnation from the U.N. and the U.S., which backs Saleh’s government with hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to battle a potent al-Qaeda offshoot based in Yemen’s mountainous hinterlands.
On Saturday, police fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters at a makeshift camp in Mualla, a city in the southern province of Aden. At least 13 people were wounded, including three hit by the live rounds, demonstrators said by telephone.
Thousands surged out of the camp and surrounded a nearby police station in an attempt to seize it. Police fired in the air to hold them back, protesters said. They said security troops managed to uproot their encampment there, but confrontations continued.
In the same province, witnesses said protesters chased security authorities out of the city of Dar Saad and were now in control. Dar Saad, with a population of about 150,000, has witnessed some of the deadliest clashes in the past few days — seven people have been killed. It is considered the gateway to the key port of Aden.
