Top Yemeni general joins protesters

Mon Mar 21, 2011

A top general has joined anti-government protesters in Yemen, as political crisis in the country has exacerbated following the recent brutal crackdown on the popular uprising.

In a televised message on Monday, Gen. Ali Mohsen expressed his support for anti-government protesters.

Mohsen, however, has not announced his resignation, AFP reported.

This comes after Yemeni ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh sacked his entire government on Sunday amid persisting protests by the oppression-weary public that has staged a revolution against his regime.

Saleh has vowed to form a new government soon and has instructed the current cabinet, which was headed by Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, to act as a caretaker and run daily operations until a new government is formed.

In a move to put pressure on president Saleh to give up power, the governor of southern province of Aden also stepped down on Monday.

Amid a slew of defections to the opposition by Yemeni military and civilian leaders, Ahmed Qaatabi resigned "to protest what is happening in the county," said a Yemeni official on condition of anonymity.

Also on Sunday, crowds swarmed the square near the Sana'a University, commemorating 52 people that died on Friday in an attack by the military's snipers.

Protest rallies have been raging on since January, blaming the Saleh regime for trampling upon the rights of the people.

Since the beginning of the popular revolution, scores of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded during armed attacks by Saleh's loyalists.

Meanwhile, a number of influential Yemeni clerics on Sunday called on Saleh to appease the demands of protesters and end his decades-old rule to avoid further violence and bloodshed.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171022.html.