100,000 protest in Yemen

POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Sunday, June 1, 2025 21:07
VIEWED: 3743
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NIKI2

Friday, June 10, 2011 5:59 PM

Now THIS takes balls, given the opposition, and I applaud them for standing up:

Quote:
Nearly 100,000 Yemenis protested Friday in a main square of the capital, demanding the president's ouster in the biggest rally since Ali Abdullah Saleh left for Saudi Arabia after he was wounded in an attack on his palace.

Saleh's evacuation for medical treatment has thrown Yemen into a dangerous political standoff, with opponents insisting he now be pushed completely out of power and his allies seeking to preserve his rule. Saleh was wounded in a blast that hit a mosque where he was praying in his presidential palace on June 3. Badly burned, Saleh was rushed to Saudi Arabia for treatment along with a number of top officials from his regime who also were wounded in the blast.

But the president's allies say he could return within days and have been resisting U.S. and Saudi pressure to start now on a handover of power. Saleh, who has ruled for nearly 33 years, has held out against a wave of daily protests since late January demanding his removal, throwing the country into turmoil. Before he was wounded, opposition tribesmen rose up and battled for two weeks with government forces in fighting that shook the capital.

The United States fears that the impoverished country's power vacuum will give even freer rein to al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, which Washington believes is the terror network's most active franchise. Already, Islamic militants — some suspected of ties to al-Qaida — have taken control of at least two areas in the restive south, a provincial capital Zinjibar and a nearby town Jaar.

On Friday morning, warplanes hit militant positions north of Jaar, witnesses and security officials said. They said there were casualties but the number was not known. The night before, troops shelled other militant positions near the town with artillery, killing at least six militants, according to medical officials. The medical and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

In Sanaa's Taghyeer, or "Change," Square on Friday, the crowds of protesters demanded that the vice president — who is acting leader in Saleh's absence — allow the creation of a new government. "The people want a transitional government," they chanted.

Opposition tribesmen marched through the square with the bodies of 41 of their fighters they say were killed a week ago when troops bombarded the Sanaa home of one of their leaders. The tribe's chief, Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar, led a march of around 10,000 people from the square to a cemetery in the capital, as protesters chanted, "The people want the butcher put on trial," referring to Saleh.

In another part of the city, about three miles away, several thousand Saleh supporters held a rally outside his presidential palace. No friction between the two sides was reported.

Similar anti-Saleh protests were held in cities around the country, including in Taiz, Yemen's second largest city, where tribesmen have moved in to protect protesters who came under attack last week in a fierce crackdown by government troops. In recent days, government forces and tribesmen have been fighting in the city, trading gunfire and shelling.

Since Saleh's evacuation, Sanaa has been under a fragile cease-fire, with government troops still deployed in the streets where they once battled al-Ahmar's tribal fighters. The situation has raised fears of a new explosion of violence if a political solution is not found soon — or if the president does indeed return.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are pressing Saleh's ruling party to move ahead with a Gulf Arab-mediated agreement under which he would formally leave power in exchange for immunity, a new unity government would be formed between the ruling party and o

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AURAPTOR

Friday, June 10, 2011 11:08 PM

Looks like the starting line for the Peachtree Road Race.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

PIRATENEWS

Friday, June 10, 2011 11:41 PM

US taxdollars at work

Actually, they just showed up for the free ice cream and U2 concert.

Meanwhile millions demand regime change in Israel. Off with their heads! As required by Mosaic Law.

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/55885,in-pictures,news-in-pictures,in-pi
ctures-after-berlin-palestinians-bring-another-wall-down

Palestinian tears down Israeli wall of separation – Abbas to dissolve Palestinian Authority
http://propagandapress.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/palestinian-tears-down
-israeli-wall-of-separation/

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

Palestinians protest the Great Wall of Israel

http://www.jewishbastard.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/untitled.bmp