New demonstration in Yemen denied by the government

Eyewitnesses said that the Yemeni police used sticks on Monday to disperse some 3,000 persons who demonstrated in protest of price increases.

Eyewitnesses in al-Hawta town of Lahj district were quoted as saying that the police had seized at least 21 persons after they held a protest demonstration.

A spokesman for the Yemeni Ministry of Information denied such news, stating that calm prevails in all districts and no accidents have been reported so far today.

Opposition parties headed by the Socialist Party said they intended to demonstrate in Hadramout district in a defiance of the ban imposed by the government against the participation of these parties in demonstrations.

Ali El-Harawi, the secretary of the culture and information department of the Yemeni Socialist Party, said that security authorities released Socialist Party leaders in Aden governorate after detaining them for several days.

Yemeni government sources accused the Yemeni Grouping for Reform opposition party of launching riots and vandalism.

Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports regarding tribal sabotage of oil pipelines, as an official at the Yemeni Ministry of Oil denied reports that tribe members have damaged pipelines linking the Ma'rib oil fields and al-Hudeidah port on the Red Sea. The official stressed that oil-exportation processes proceed normally and pumping operations goes are continuous.

The Yemeni opposition stated that the Yemeni Defense Ministry buried yesterday in the capital 21 army members killed in the last confrontations among the tribes and the armed forces in Ma'rib and al-Jawf provinces.