Dozens of Yemeni women injured in protest

TAIZ, Yemen, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Dozens of Yemeni women were injured after gangs attacked a rally to celebrate Tawakkol Karman, the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thousands of women took to the streets of Taiz Sunday to honor Karman and to call for international support for a revolution in Yemen, CNN reported.

Pro-government gangs threw rocks at the crowd, injuring at least 38 women, said Yasser al-Nusari, a paramedic in Taiz' Freedom Square.

Government supporters also verbally assaulted some of the female demonstrators, witnesses said.

Prominent Yemeni human rights activist, Khalid al-Anesi, said the pro-government attackers "want to make people afraid to demonstrate."

"Women heard that Tawakkol Karman had won the Nobel Prize and they wanted to come out to support her winning. Then more women started planning to demonstrate and women had huge marches yesterday in Yemen," al-Anesi said Monday. "During the Taiz march, pro-Saleh gangs attacked women marchers and over 20 were injured. This is a way for (President Ali Abdullah) Saleh's government to send a message that women shouldn't demonstrate."

Demonstrations also took place in Shabwa and Sanaa, calling on the United Nations to help force Saleh to step down.