The police troops clashed with separatist activists who called for a general strike in Aden, injuring at least five people, a provincial security source said on condition of anonymity.
"Activists of the separatist movement launched a civil disobedience campaign against the government authorities in Aden. Shops, public offices and schools remain closed," the security source said.
"The clashes are still going on as police vehicles attempted to remove barricades and open closed streets and engaged in confrontations with secessionists in Aden's neighborhood of Mansoura," he added.
Meanwhile, local medics said that "a secessionist man was shot in the neck and seriously wounded."
A secessionist leader told Xinhua anonymously that "We called for an open-ended general strike in Aden and several southern regions until the regime pulls the army out of cities and releases our detainees."
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has called for separatist groups in the country's southern regions to take part in a planned reconciliation national dialogue to settle disputes and promised to compensate them.
Separatist sentiment escalated after northern troops overran southern regions following a four-month civil war in 1994. Southerners complain of being economically and politically marginalized and discriminated.
Hadi announced that the government will hold the national dialogue on March 18 to solve disputes among political factions and pave the way for amending the constitution and preparing for presidential elections in 2014.
from XINHUA
2013-02-23 19:12:48
Editor: Chen Zhi
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