Well what took the President and the State Department so damned long?
Gawker
The U.S. will no longer support jerkoff Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, The New York Times reports, and is actively negotiating for his departure. Which is good, we guess, insofar as Saleh was a brutal, repressive autocrat whose people have been calling for his resignation (or more) for weeks; on the other hand, the deal seems to be that his vice-president will take power until elections are held, an outcome that’s unlikely to pacify Yemen’s angry protestors.
Oh, and, terrorism: One reason the U.S. hasn’t called for Saleh’s resignation is that Yemen is “because he was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.” (Fret not, however, for the State Department’s stated position is that fighting al Qaeda in Yemen “goes beyond any one individual.”) Student protestors, meanwhile, are “really very, very angry” with the U.S. for dragging its feet. [NYT; image via AP]
Yemen Police Beat Female Protesters With Sticks: Activists
Huffington Post
Thousands of women calling for the ouster of Yemen’s longtime ruler were attacked on Sunday by police with sticks and rocks, setting off a furious battle with male protesters that left several people hurt, activists said.
The women were marching down a main street in the southern town of Taiz shouting “peaceful! peaceful!” when they were attacked, activist Ghazi al-Samei said.
Three of the young men suffered serious gunshot wounds when police opened fire, protester Bushra al-Maqtari told The Associated Press by telephone. She said over 200 more suffered breathing problems caused by inhaling tear gas.
Army tanks and armored cars stopped other demonstrators from entering Taiz, the site of some of the largest and angriest protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
Protesters have been camping out in main squares throughout Yemen for weeks, demanding Saleh immediately leave power after 30 years. The president has offered to resign by the year’s end and says leaving without a negotiated transition, would lead to chaos. On Saturday, opposition groups demanded he hand power to his vice president and set up committees to thrash out constitutional reform and elections.
Related Articles
- “Yemen’s President Concedes Defeat” and related posts (nymag.com)
- And Here Is Yemen and Sanaa – Saana, Sanaaa – Yemen – and Ali+abdullah+saleh – and Protests + Yemen + Again – and Now the Name = Changed – No I Am Not Surprised – (theolgalednichenko.wordpress.com)
- Yemeni protesters hurl stones at police (msnbc.msn.com)
- Yemen President Resists Calls to Quit (online.wsj.com)
- U.S. now seeks removal of Yemeni president: report – Reuters (news.google.com)
- Clashes in Yemen as President Resists Calls to Step Down – Wall Street Journal (news.google.com)
- Exclusive: Newsweek’s Photos of Yemen (thedailybeast.com)
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