NEW YORK TIME Middle East
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
Published: February 13, 2011
SANA, Yemen — Young protesters in Yemen squared off against security forces on Sunday, and some marched on the presidential palace in Sana, witnesses said, as a third day of demonstrations sought to emulate the revolution in Egypt.The protests, organized largely via text message, were the largest yet by young Yemenis, with more than 1,000 marching. And it appeared to mark a rift with opposition groups who had organized previous demonstrations that wrested significant concessions from President Ali Abdullah Saleh, including the promise that he would give up power in 2013.
Those established opposition groups did not join the crowd on Sunday, who were calling for the immediate ouster of the president. After the initial demonstration, a smaller group of young protesters peeled off and marched towards the presidential palace, only to be violently beaten back by armed security forces, both uniformed and in plain-clothes, with some armed with stun guns, witnesses said. There were reports of several injuries but no deaths in the clashes.
Unlike the earlier protests in Yemen, which were highly organized and marked by color-coordinated clothing and signs, the spontaneity of the younger demonstrators appeared to have more in common with popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, where opposition groups watched from the sidelines as leaderless revolts grew into revolutions.
The Joint Meetings Parties, a coalition of opposition parties, said at a news conference in Sana on Sunday that it welcomed the new street protests but cautioned that violence could quickly erupt if mass uprisings took hold in Yemen, a country with a well-armed populace. “If the people on the streets take the lead, we will say thank you for that,” said Yassin Saeed Noman, a socialist party leader, adding that the opposition “should deal wisely with this big movement.”
The opposition group said that 120 people had been arrested in protests on Saturday and Sunday in Taiz, a poverty-stricken town with a relatively educated populace about a four-hour drive south of the capital, as wave of youthful unrest spread through the fractured country.
Mr. Saleh, a strongman and key ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, has in recent weeks sought to defuse a rising tide of opposition and preserve his three-decade-long rule by raising army salaries, cutting income taxes in half and ordering price controls, among other concessions.
“This is a revolution across the whole Arab world,” said Jalal Bakry, an unemployed protester near the Yemeni capital’s central square. “If those in Tahrir Square want to kill me, that’s okay. We will still be peaceful.”
Even before protests began in January, a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the south have threatened Yemen’s fragile stability. The government’s precarious hold on control has been a source of concern for the United States, which has received support from Mr. Saleh to root out the active Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.
In a visit to Sana earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged dialogue between Mr. Saleh and the opposition in the interest of preserving stability.
At its news conference on Sunday, the opposition coalition said it would be willing to restart a talks with the ruling party if specific conditions are met, such as including members of the southern separatist movement in the dialogue.
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