Yemenis throng in Sana'a to celebrate protesters' march

Dec 23, 2011

Sana'a - Thousands of Yemeni protesters were gathering Friday to support protesters marching from the southern city of Taiz to the capital Sana'a, demanding the prosecution of outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh and members of his regime.

The march, which started on Wednesday and passed northwards through the provinces of Ibb and Dhamar, was expected in Sana'a on Saturday. It aims to condemn the immunity granted to Saleh under a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal.

Some 3,000 people were taking part in the march - a new development in the anti-government protests which started against Saleh in February.

'The world should see us walking a distance of 255 kilometers to continue the uprising which would bring us justice, freedom and the decent life which the regime deprived us from for decades,' said Natheer al-Asbahi, one of the marchers.

While the political parties are implementing the deal - signed in Riyadh in November - as scheduled, protesters remain dissatisfied with it, as members of Saleh's regime will still be active on the political scene.

'I do not think it is possible to build our country with the people who impoverished our land during the regime of Saleh,' said Abdullah Sallam, 29, from Sana'a.

However the new minister of information Ali al-Amrani stressed Thursday that the coalition government remained committed to the Gulf deal and the steps it prescribed to reach the sought-after change.

'Our priority is to remove tension, stop violence and implement a development program to regain the economic stability,' al-Amrani said on Thursday.

Yemen has been shaken by al-Qaeda operatives in the south and tribal and radical conflicts in the north, in the absence of the viable rule of law to maintain stability in the country.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1682480.php/Yemenis-throng-in-Sana-a-to-celebrate-protesters-march.