Violent crackdowns by the Yemeni government have continued for weeks as protests continue to grow, but they got their first major violent backlash on Monday night, when tribesmen stormed a security forces building in the Jawf Province.
The tribesmen were said to be angry at the troops having opened fire on protesters calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster, and they killed four Yemeni soldiers before they left the scene.
The backlash appears not to have affected the regime’s anti-protest tactics, however, as the following morning it was reported that tribal leader Naji Nasm, who was attending a protest in the Jawf Province, was shot and killed when the soldiers opened fire on the crowd.
Dozens of protesters have been killed and thousands wounded in the daily protests in Sanaa and elsewhere across Yemen. President Saleh has ruled out stepping down early, but has promised not to run for reelection in the next vote.
