MASS DEMONSTRATIONS passed off peacefully in Sanaa yesterday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in pro- and anti-government rallies on Yemen’s so-called “day of rage”.
In demonstrations, inspired by those in Tunisia and Egypt, about 20,000 anti-government protesters gathered near the capital’s main university calling on president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. On the other side of the city in Tahrir (liberation) Square, thousands gathered to support the president.
Despite Mr Saleh announcing on Wednesday, at an emergency parliamentary meeting, that he would not stand for re-election at the end of his term in 2013 and his son would not succeed him, demonstrations, organised by the coalition of opposition parties the JMP, still went ahead.
“We don’t want the president. We want change,” shouted unemployed graduate Mohammed Ahmed.
“We want to change this government and the president.”
The anti-government gathering had planned to demonstrate in Tahrir Square but decided to change locations to avoid clashes when pro-Saleh demonstrators took over the central location on Wednesday and camped out in huge tents.
As placards bearing the portrait of the president were handed out to his supporters from the backs of trucks in Tahrir, the opposition, inspired by Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” wore pink headbands and carried banners saying: “The people want change.”
The two sets of demonstrators stayed apart. Anti-government protesters formed human shields by linking arms to protect themselves from pro-Saleh supporters.
“He didn’t give anything and we don’t trust him,” said Mohammed al-Shwal, director general of political affairs for the opposition Islamic Islah party, referring to Mr Saleh’s announcement nearly six years ago he would not stand for re-election.
“You are tired of me and I of you, it is time for change,” said Mr Saleh in July 2005, when he claimed he would not run for president the following year.
“With our blood and hearts we want you as president,” was the cry in Tahrir Square yesterday, as thousands of Mr Saleh’s supporters marched towards the al-Saleh (the president’s) mosque, built at a reported cost of $60 million (€44 million) in 2008.
Mr Saleh had gone to great lengths to quieten calls for his resignation in the last two weeks as leaders in the Arab world have felt the ripple effects of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
He announced a string of social benefits including extended social welfare to half a million families; a wage rise for all state and military employees; and a one-year cancellation of all student tuition fees.
On the eve of yesterday’s protests Mr Saleh made further concessions over the electoral committee – the cause of the current boycott of April elections by the JMP.
Mr Saleh has ruled Yemen for 32 years. The Arab world’s poorest nation, Yemen has an unemployment rate of 40 per cent and nearly half the population lives on less than €1.50 a day.