Amnesty demands Yemeni security restraint

Global human rights organisation Amnesty International has called on Yemeni authorities to end “routine violent repression” against protesters, ahead of a mass demonstration in the country’s south tomorrow. The demonstration will mark the first anniversary of the election of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The news comes 10 days after security forces opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Aden, killing two. "The Southern Movement and its followers have a right to protest peacefully, and the Yemeni authorities must allow them this right," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme. Harrison demanded security forces end “excessive, lethal force” against peaceful demonstrators, following a spate of violent clampdowns in recent weeks. On February 11, Central Security Forces opened fire on protesters marching to Aden, eyewitnesses told Amnesty International. A man on a bus and a 14-year-old girl travelling in a car were killed, while several others were said to have been wounded by live fire allegedly from security forces. Two days earlier, Central Security Forces in the street shot dead a pregnant woman in her home while apparently trying to disperse a Southern Movement sit-in in Aden.