Members of the Shi'ite Muslim militia that controls much of Yemen opened fire on hundreds of people protesting at their presence in the southerly city of al-Bayda on Thursday, killing one and wounding eight others, local officials and medical sources said.
The Houthis, who are led by a northern clan of the same name, have in recent months become the de facto rulers of northern Yemen, seizing the capital Sanaa in September and forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to announce their resignations.