Police officer murders citizen [Archives:2005/902/Front Page]
Nadia al-Sakkaf
SANA'A – Dec. 9 – Tens of bus drivers and angry citizens blocked a road adjacent to the presidency palace to the 45 meters road in Sana'a early last Friday. They demanded the punishment of the police officer who shot dead their colleague around 11 AM that morning.
Eyewitnesses said the minibus driver had committed a traffic violation and refused to acknowledge the police car patrolling at that location near al-Asbahi zone. The police car raced after the public bus driver and forced him to pull over. After a heated argument the public bus driver was shot dead. Soon enough, the street was crowded with people from the neighborhood as well as other bus drivers who objected in solidarity with their deceased colleague. “How insignificant his life was to the police officer is what outrages us. This is a country where a traffic violation has the capital punishment” Mohammed, one of the lobbying bus drivers told the Yemen Times.
Another eyewitness from the neighborhood said that the incident took place in the morning and that an officer with two soldiers in another police car intervened and tried to resolve the situation with a relative of the deceased and some of the angry crowd. Khairaldin Mohammed another witness was there during this negotiation. He said the police officer was a first lieutenant called Mohammed Yafooz as his name badge read. He also said that after a short while the road was unblocked and the crowed dispersed. “It seems they have settled the issue but I don't know on which grounds” he added.
Yemen Times called the traffic police department and they said that since it is a murder case it is not within their jurisdiction. The Ministry of interior refused to comment on the issue when Yemen Times contacted them about the murder case. This particular story is yet to unfold. Nevertheless it is not the only one of its kind. There had been several incidents in the past that included shooting, such as the Jaki case in 1992, when a police officer called Al-Jaki shot down a traffic officer because of some dispute. One of the most prominent incidents was the one including a drastic exchange of fire between men of Shiekh Al-Ahmar's tribe and guards of the British Embassy in Hadda Road a few years ago. The shooting started because of an argument on parking slots and ended up with three guards dead.
Yemen is known to be one of the countries where arms are spread among citizens. Statistics indicate a rate of 3 weapons per person. Tribes pride themselves for possessing heavy arms and machinery including bazookas and tanks. In spite of this the crime rate is relatively low and incidents such as the latest murder on Friday are irregular. For more information on security incidents in Yemen refer to the website: www.al-bab.com/yemen/data/incident94.htm
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