63 killed in police raids on anti-gov't protesters in S Yemen: doctors

The death toll of clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces overnight Monday in Yemen's southern province of Taiz rose to at least 63, doctors told Xinhua.

Up to 800 other people had been injured and dozens of them with gunshot injuries had been still in critical conditions, doctors stated.

Witnesses said police forces and armed government backers utilized bulldozers to clear the remaining tents following the forces utilized live ammunition, tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters from their sit-in location in downtown Taiz.

Taiz, the second largest city located about 200 km south of the capital Sanaa, has been the scene of practically daily clashes between police and protesters demanding immediate end to the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Meanwhile, human rights activists stated many bodies of physically handicapped protesters had been discovered right after they had been trapped inside the fire which was set on the tents by police and government supporters.

The scattered protesters gathered once again on Monday evening and tried to march forward their sit-in location dubbed Freedom Square, but police forces dispersed them once more, killing a minimum of 1 protester.

Police forces then occupied the protest sit-in square, stated the witnesses.

Human rights activists also said security forces arrested dozens of protesters overnight.

Because February, daily clashes between police forces and anti-government protesters broke out in Yemen's key cities.

The impoverished Arab country is trying to cement a ceasefire to end a recent tribe rebellion inside the capital Sanaa that killed at the very least 127 folks, as government forces have been shelling militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing after the latter took over the southern troubled province of Abyan on Saturday.

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