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| Arabia |
| Yemenis stage fresh protests |
| 2011-05-02 |
| [Iran Press TV] Anti-government protesters in Yemen have staged fresh rallies in the capital Sana'a and several more cities, insisting on the ouster of President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh. Protesters once again spilled out into the streets of Yemen on Sunday after Saleh torpedoed a deal aimed at ending three months of deadly protests that would have seen the president quit after 30 days. In exchange, Saleh would have got immunity from prosecution and would have opened the way for the opposition parties to come together in a national unity government. Saleh's refusal to sign the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council deal on Saturday canceled a ceremony on Sunday to finalize the deal. The [P]GCC members -- Soddy Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain -- held an informal meeting in Riyadh and said their chief will again travel to Yemen to renew mediation. Protesters and relatives in the capital gathered around the body of Ahmad Saleh, an anti-government protester who was injured last Wednesday in festivities with security forces and died of his wounds on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in cities including Sana'a, Aden, Taiz, calling for corruption and unemployment to be tackled and demanding President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. Some 40% of the population live on $2 a day or less in the country, and a third face food shortages. The protests have been met by riot police or supporters of President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... armed with knives and batons. The corpse count in the country has surpassed 300 since anti-government protests began in late January. |
| Posted by:Fred |