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Medical workers say at least 20 dead as Republican Guards use tanks and bulldozers to clear activists in city of Taiz Hundreds of soldiers loyal to Yemen’s embattled president have stormed a protest camp in a southern city and fired on the crowds indiscriminately, killing at least 20 people, according to medical officials and witnesses. The city of Taiz has been a hotbed of anti-government protests since crowds began calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster in early February. The heavy crackdown there signalled Saleh was still intent on preserving his 33-year rule despite the upheaval, intense international pressure to step aside and defections by key allies and some army units. Security forces first tried to clear the square in Taiz on Monday with water cannon, tear gas and sound bombs, sending thousands rushing for shelter. Forces from the Republican Guard, which is commanded by one of Saleh’s sons, then moved in before dawn with tanks and bulldozers, said Sadek al-Shugaa, the head of a field hospital at the protest camp. Republican Guard soldiers along with security forces and armed men in civilian clothes attacked the protesters. Some set fire to dozens of tents used by the demonstrators, and bulldozers ran over hundreds of other tents without checking whether any protesters were still inside, two witnesses said. One of them, Mohammed al-Zarafi, said he saw tents being set on fire while injured protesters were still inside. The other witness, protester Boushra al-Maqtali, called the attack “a real massacre”. “The square and the (field) hospital are in ruins,” she said. “The tanks took the place of hundreds of tents that were set up there. The artillery units are occupying the whole space to make it impossible for the youth to return to the square,” she said. Troops also attacked the Majeedi hotel overlooking the square, where journalists were detained, Shugaa said. Then snipers took over the top of the building to shoot at protesters. Amateur video aired by al-Jazeera TV showed masked men with rifles shooting from rooftops at the protesters in the street. Shugaa said “most of the injuries are critical in the head, chest and neck”. He said several dozen of the injured were dragged away by security forces and vanished. Yemen Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Protest guardian.co.uk