SANAA/ADEN, (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of protesters flooded Yemen’s streets yesterday in a “Day of Rage”, demanding an end to the president’s three-decade rule.
In the capital Sanaa, demonstrators chanted “With blood and soul we support you, Aden,” referring to the southern port city where most of the 24 people killed in the past two weeks of protests have died.
Some demonstrators flashed “V” for victory signs while others wore white headbands with “Leave” written in red — a message addressed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Tens of thousands more marched through the streets of Ibb and Taiz, south of Sanaa.
Already rocked by separatism and an al Qaeda insurgency, Yemen is one of the Arab nations most shaken by popular protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East.
Saleh, a U.S. ally against al Qaeda, has failed to quell two months of protests in a country of 23 million where 40 percent live on less than $2 a day and a third are undernourished.
On Monday he offered to form a unity government but the opposition rejected it. Yesterday, Saleh replaced the governors of five mostly southern provinces at the centre of the protests.
“Victory is coming and it is near,” Hassan Zaid, an opposition leader, shouted to the protesters gathered in Sanaa, where they have been camping out for two weeks. “We have one goal and one demand, and that is the quick end of the regime.”
Protesters are angry at widespread corruption, as university graduates struggle to get jobs without connections, and youth unemployment is high. Northern rebels and southern separatists say they are denied resources and a say in politics.
As oil and water resources dry up, the 68-year-old Saleh is less able to pay off allies to keep the peace.
