Yemeni Troops Fire on Protesters

Fox News reports

A Yemeni medical official says soldiers loyal to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have stormed a protest camp in the southern city of Taiz and fired on the crowds indiscriminately, killing at least 20.

Hospital sources told Reuters that at least 120 were wounded.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said police fired live ammunition and used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds protesting outside a municipal building. The protest was formed to demand the release of a fellow protester who was arrested on Saturday.

The violence took place near Freedom Square -- a popular gathering point for thousands of anti-government protesters that have been camping there since January to demand Saleh's overthrow, Reuters reports. As police set two tents in the square on fire, protesters responded by hurling molotov bombs and rocks at them.

The city of Taiz has been a hotbed of anti-government protests since crowds began calling for Saleh's ouster in early February.

Sadek al-Shugaa, the head of a field hospital at the protest camp in Taiz, witnessed Monday's crackdown and says the Republican Guard forces backed by tanks moved in before dawn to clear the square.