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| Arabia |
| Shootout in Sana'a... |
| 2002-10-06 |
| An armed clash erupted in the Yemeni capital Saturday between security forces and tribal fighters loyal to the parliamentary speaker Abdullah al-Ahmar. Some sort of coup attempt? A civil disruption? Or... The fighting occurred in Sanaa's main commercial center when military police tried to enforce a new government ban on civilians carrying weapons and attempted to disarm tribal chief Ali Hmeid Juleidan. Ohfergawdsake. Juleidan called some of his relatives to defend him. After an exchange of fire the police's own reinforcements forced the group to flee the scene. There were no casualties, but a police source linked the incident to another tribal clash last week involving Speaker al-Ahmar's four sons. Juleidan is closely associated with Abdullah al-Ahmar, an Islamist opposition figure and tribal leader. Police tried to disarm the speaker's sons, and Al-Ahmar's youngest son was among the wounded. Lost a finger when Wild Mahmoud Masterson shot the shootin' arn right outta his hand... The ban against weapons is part of the Yemeni governments attempt to shake off its reputation as a haven for Islamic terrorists. But a Yemeni official said enforcing the arms ban was a huge challenge because virtually every Yemeni citizen typically owned more than one weapon. Yemen and Pashtunistan are a couple arguments the anti-Second Amendment crowd is going to pick up on one of these days, probably when the War on Terror is safely over. Both areas represent the Right to Keep and Bear Arms taken to a ridiculous extreme — by the addition of the right to act like an irresponsible, proddy lunatic. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |