Friday, February 18, 2011

Yemen: Supporters and opponents of the plan clash

  The Yemeni capital, Sanaa has again been the scene Thursday in clashes between supporters and opponents of the government in power. Protesters demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdallah Saleh, in power for 32 years. The clashes left one person dead in Aden in the south.
Yemeni opponents are they now follow the path of the Egyptians and Tunisians? While Thursday Bahrain and Libya were also plagued by unrest, unrest continued in the main cities of Yemen for the seventh consecutive day. In the south, Aden, one protester was killed when police dispersed a rally. In Sanaa, the capital, 800 government supporters attacked opponents of 1500 with clubs and daggers. Protesters responded by throwing stones. At least forty people were injured.
"We will continue to protest until the fall of this regime. We have been patient too long," he told Reuters Salah Abdallah, a student. Negotiations started between the organized opposition and the government have not calmed the youth, who shows a less orderly and perhaps more dangerous for power. The plan is a compromise
But the regime does not intend to be stampeded. His supporters, mindful of the importance of the symbol, hold for days Tahrir Square in Sanaa, which bears the same name as the beacon of the Egyptian revolution. President Ali Abdallah Saleh, in power for 32 years, tried to calm the streets. As Hosni Mubarak and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, he initially promised not to seek re-election at the next election in 2013. Another sign of abating, the vice-president of Yemen has been sent to head a commission of inquiry to Aden, where two protesters were killed, already on Wednesday evening.
Yemen, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia is not Egypt. Religious and tribal loyalties play a bigger role than party affiliation. But in this country of 23 million inhabitants, 40% of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. The anger of his youth could destabilize President Saleh, an ally of the United States and "bulwark" against the Islamists of Al Qaeda.

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