SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni forces opened fire on demonstrators in three cities on Wednesday, killing at least nine and wounding scores in escalating bloodshed that could ramp up public fury at the president’s refusal to step down.
In the capital Sanaa, forces fired on a crowd of tens of thousands marching to the cabinet building. At least six demonstrators died and around 100 were wounded, said a doctor heading a makeshift clinic for wounded protesters at the scene.
He said the number of dead could rise.
In the industrial center Taiz, snipers killed two protesters and dozens were injured by gunfire, tear gas and bat-wielding plainclothes security men. Protesters retaliated by torching a police building and sealing off government buildings.
In the Red Sea port city of Hudaida, one protester was killed when security forces opened fire after marchers tried to force their way into a government building, witnesses said.
The bloodshed will fuel public rage ahead of Friday, traditionally the main day of unrest during a three-month-old revolt against President Ali Abdullah Saleh inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.
Crowds have lost patience with stalled negotiations to end Saleh’s 33-year rule, and violence is surging in a country where half the population owns a
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