| Summary: | "In February 2011, Yemeni security forces repeatedly used excessive, deadly force on largely peaceful protesters in the southern city of Aden, killing at least nine and possibly twice that number, and injuring more than 150, some of them children. Days of Bloodshed in Aden provides detailed accounts of incidents where Yemeni police and military forces fired on protesters with assault rifles and machine guns even as they tried to flee. The protesters, like their counterparts elsewhere in Yemen, were calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Many southern protesters are also seeking secession for the south. The forces prevented doctors and ambulances from reaching protest sites, fired at people who tried to rescue victims, and removed evidence of the shootings. They detained at least eight activists of the Southern Movement--a coalition that the Yemeni authorities blamed for the bloodshed--who have subsequently "disappeared". The report is based on more than 50 interviews in Aden with protesters and their relatives, as well as doctors and human rights activists. Human Rights Watch also analyzed videos and photos of the protests, hospital records, and ballistic evidence. Days of Bloodshed in Aden calls on the Yemeni government to promptly conduct impartial investigations into the use of excessive force and hold those responsible to account. It asks Yemen's neighbors and donors to make clear that international assistance to Yemen will be contingent upon improvements in its human rights conduct."--P. [4] of cover.
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