Two people, including a soldier, were killed and three others were injured Saturday in armed clashes between police and citizens outside a Yemeni courtroom.
Security sources said the fighting erupted in Aden, in southern Yemen, when authorities tried to disperse a crowd that was demonstrating and shooting their guns into the air. The crowd was protesting a verdict against a state security officer accused of killing a policeman and a university student earlier this month during a riot.
The court sentenced the officer to pay compensation, which the victim's family thought was not enough.
The unidentified security sources said relative of the slain policeman began shooting their guns in the court room and insulting the judge, who requested security reinforcement to control the mob. That was when the armed clashes started, the sources added.
The use of different types of weapons is common in Yemen, where there are an estimated 50 million guns in a country of 20 million people.
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President George W. Bush salutes U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Santiago Frias of Bronx, N.Y., at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Facilities such as Walter Reed are being pressured by the mounting casualties in Iraq. (Click on photo for full story).
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Monday 29th November, 2004
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