ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least one protester was killed and four others were injured Friday when Yemeni security forces dispersed hundreds of separatist demonstrators in the port city of Aden, witnesses said.
Security forces backed by armored vehicles opened live ammunition in an attempt to disperse a protest by southern youth activists demanding a secession of southern regions, killing at least one separatist protester and injuring four others in Khor Maksar district in Aden, a witness told Xinhua.
"The security soldiers first used tear gas and then opened heavy fire, trying to raid the al-Oroud Square, where hundreds of protesters gathered to demand secession from the north and the right of self-determination," said the witness.
A local medic at the Nageeb hospital in Aden, where the dead and injured protesters were taken, confirmed to Xinhua the toll, saying that "two of the injured protesters are in critical condition."
Yemeni security officers tore off the flags of former South Yemen erected in the streets after dispersing the protest while gunshots are still ranging out across the city, according to a Xinhua reporter near the scene.
Northern and southern parts of Yemen were unified in 1990 according to a deal between Yemen's ruling General People's Congress party and the Yemeni Socialist Party. However, the deal fell apart, leading to a crisis between the two allies, which developed into a civil war in 1994.
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