Yemen’s youth leaders set out demands

THE youth groups who began a month-long uprising said yesterday that they wanted a new constitution and the dissolution of parliament, local councils and Yemen’s notorious security agencies in addition to the immediate ouster of the president.

The widening demands appear to reflect the perception that President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has been badly weakened by weeks of unrelenting protests, and the defection to the opposition of a string of powerful officials including members of the president’s inner circle.

The organisers say they are hoping that several million people will turn out today for Friday prayers in public squares and follow them with demonstrators against Saleh.