SANA'A // Two protesters were killed and at least 10 others injured yesterday in the city of Taiz when police and government supporters used live fire and tear gas to disperse tens of thousands of protesters, mostly women, who were demanding the departure of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
According to medics and protest organisers, some of the injuries were serious and as many as 700 others suffered from respiratory problems because of the tear gas.
The women were marching down a main street in the southern town of Taiz shouting "peaceful! peaceful!" when they were attacked, activist Ghazi al-Samei said.
Three of the young men suffered serious gunshot wounds when police opened fire, protester Bushra al-Maqtari said by telephone.
Army tanks and armoured cars stopped other demonstrators from entering Taiz, the site of some of the largest and angriest protests against Mr Saleh's rule in recent weeks.
Protesters have been camping out in main squares throughout Yemen for weeks, demanding Mr Saleh leave power after 30 years. The president has offered to resign by the year's end and says leaving without a negotiated transition would lead to chaos.
On Saturday, opposition groups demanded he hand power to his vice president and set up committees to thrash out constitutional reform and elections.
The president's spokesman, Ahmed al-Sufi, said yesterday that Mr Saleh is only "ready to discuss the peaceful handover of power according to the constitution."
Mr Saleh's top security official in Taiz, Abdullah Qiran, is accused by demonstrators of orchestrating some of the most brutal actions against demonstrators, particularly in the southern port town of Aden, where he was previously stationed.
There, some 48 demonstrators were killed over a period of weeks by security forces and Mr Saleh's supporters armed with sticks, knives and guns.
At least 97 demonstrators have been killed in Yemen since protests began on February 11, according to the Yemeni rights group Shakayek.
* With additional reporting by the Associated Press
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Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
if you go
The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
