Yemeni protestors attack police

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Yemen hurled stones at riot police backed by tanks in the southern province of Aden as rival rallies were held in the capital today.

Nearly two months of daily protests demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh have so far failed to bring an end to his 32-year rule over Yemen, a corner of the Arabian peninsula beset by poverty, conflict and a long list of other woes.

Seizing on the example of Egypt and other uprisings, the protesters want to open up the country’s political system as a path toward a better life.

President Saleh’s crackdown has been so harsh that it has propelled some of his key allies – even his own tribe – into the opposition camp. Nevertheless, he refuses to step down immediately, saying the country would sink into chaos without an orderly, negotiated transition.

Reflecting the stand-off, both sides held demonstrations in the capital, Sanaa, today.

Anti-government protesters staged huge rallies in northern districts. Government supporters, meanwhile, continued their overnight rally in another neighbourhood.

Mr Saleh appeared briefly towards the start of that rally yesterday, pledging to sacrifice his “blood and soul” for the sake of the Yemeni people.

In Aden, protesters set tyres on fire, sending black smoke into the sky. They also built barricades with large rocks at the entrance of main roads to prevent tanks from moving. Stone-throwing clashes broke out with police.

Workers and students appeared to abide by calls for a general strike in Aden and in Taiz, another southern city, today, witnesses said.

Yemen’s unrest is of great concern to the United States, in particular, because the country is home to al Qaida’s most active franchise. Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has been behind several nearly successful plots to attack international targets, including sending bombs hidden in printer cartridges on to cargo planes and getting a would-be suicide bomber on to a Detroit-bound flight in December 2009.

Yesterday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was concerned about the situation in Yemen but insisted counter-terrorism co-operation was continuing between the two countries.

The US gives Mr Saleh’s government financial and military aid for fighting al Qaida and has provided training to some of his forces.

With so much at stake, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said a week ago that the fall of Mr Saleh’s regime could pose a “real problem” for America.

Yemeni protesters said yesterday that the US has taken “a shameful position” towards their movement and called on it to support the uprising and reject “dictatorship”.

The Organisational Committee for the Popular Youth Revolution, an umbrella group for the protesters, called on the US administration to stop security co-operation and financial aid to Mr Saleh’s government.

It also sought to reassure Washington that a post-Saleh government would not would not take a different position on al Qaida.

“The US administration should know that there is no place for al Qaida and terrorism under a peaceful Yemeni people’s revolution which achieves peace and internal harmony,” it said.

“Yemen without Saleh will be better.”