Four killed, several injured in clashes in Yemen

Four people have been killed and ten others injured in clashes between Yemeni police and protesting separatists in the southern port city of Aden.

Fathi Ben Lazraq, a member of the Southern Movement, said on Thursday that the deaths occurred when police opened fire on protestors who were trying to reach the place where the rally was being held.

According to Yemen’s Southern Movement, thousands of protesters had gathered at a square in Aden calling for southern independence on the first anniversary of the ouster of former dictator Ali Abdulla Saleh.

Reports say several policemen were also wounded in the clashes.

Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh formally stepped down and handed power over to his deputy Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi on February 27, 2012. The power transfer occurred under a Saudi-backed deal brokered by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council in April 2011 and signed by Saleh in Riyadh on November 23, 2011.