May 7, 2011

Troops opened fire to break up a Yemeni student demonstration Saturday demanding the postponement of exams and killed two students and wounded 15 others, a protest organiser told AFP.

Hundreds were taking part in the protest at Al-Maaf, a village in Taez province, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, when security forces fired live bullets into the crowd, organiser Ahmed Wafi said.

A local non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Information and Training on Human Rights, confirmed the shooting and denounced "the suppression of a peaceful march of students."

There was no immediate word from the authorities over the shooting.

Troops tried to disperse the students who were joined by anti-government protesters who have since late January been demanding the immediate departure of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the protest organiser said.

He said the young students had been demanding a postponement of their final exams to allow them more time to prepare after their studies were disrupted by strikes that accompanied popular anti-government protests.

More than 150 people have been killed in political violence linked to demands for Saleh's ouster.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council is trying to broker a deal between Saleh to ensure a peaceful transition and end the bloodshed in the impoverished Arab nation.

The GCC plan proposes the formation of a government of national unity, Saleh transferring power to his vice president, and resigning after 30 days, a day after the parliament would pass a law granting him and his aides immunity.