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Sana`a: As a number of
anti-government protesters marched toward the presidential palace
in Yemen Sunday, the opposition accepted a political reform
initiative offered earlier this month by President Ali Abdullah Saleh in which he pledged not to seek another term or hand over
power to his son.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters marched toward the
presidential palace to demand a regime change in the Middle
Eastern country.
Some of them chanted, "First Mubarak, now Ali," referring to
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Hosni Mubarak, who Friday
resigned as president of Egypt after nearly 30 years in power, CNN
reported.
Security forces put up a barbed wire barricade and blocked the
protesters' path about two miles from the palace.
Nearby, a group of about 40 pro-government demonstrators chanted:
"With our souls, with our blood, we will sacrifice for (President)
Ali".
The anti-government group initially assembled at the gates of
Sana`a University earlier Sunday, where another group of
pro-government demonstrators carried pictures of the president.
Police tried to disperse the crowds and stepped in to prevent
pro-government demonstrators from following when the
anti-government group headed away from the university and toward
the palace.
The group of anti-government protesters included students and
rights activists. Their numbers swelled as they marched through
Sana`a's streets.
Saleh has ruled Yemen for 32 years and has pledged not to stand
for re-election when his current term -- which started in 2006 --
ends in 2013.
However, Hosni Mubarak's rule ended Friday (Feb 11) when he
stepped down after 18 days of anti-government protests rocked
Egypt.
Echoes of Egypt's revolution resonated across the region, with
anti-government protests in Yemen and Algeria.
Demonstrations are also planned in Libya and Iran Monday, the CNN
report added.
On Saturday, brief clashes erupted in Yemen between hundreds of
pro- and anti-government demonstrators who staged rival rallies in
the capital.
Meanwhile, Yemen's opposition has accepted a political reform
initiative offered earlier this month by President Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
"We accept the political reform initiative offered by President
Saleh on Feb 2," Xinuha quoted the opposition coalition saying in
a statement.
"We are ready to begin the national dialogue with the president's
ruling party as of this week," it added.
Opposition leaders said they made such a decision because they
tried to keep the country away from spreading unrest that changed
regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
As tens of thousands of jubilant people in Cairo celebrated the
ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Yemenis inspired by the
Egyptian uprising have begun mustering forces for their own
revolution.
In Yemen's port city of Aden, protesters marched through the
Mansoura district, waving the old flag of South Arabia and
chanting "Revolution, revolution for the south", the Christian
Science Monitor reported Saturday.
Just hours before that march, security forces had fired live
ammunition during a protest on the same street.
Hundreds more staged demonstrations throughout Aden, as well as in
other cities across Yemen's south.
"After Hosni Mubarak, Yemen is going to be next. I know it," said
Zahra Saleh, a prominent secession activist watching the scenes in
Cairo on a TV set in a small Aden office.
"Now our revolution has to be stronger," declared Ali Jarallah, a
leader in the southern separatist movement.
The Yemeni southern secessionist movement is not calling for
political reforms, an end to corruption, or even for President Ali
Abdullah Saleh to step down, as the political opposition is doing
in the capital city Sana'a.
They are pushing for the end of what they view is northern Yemeni
occupation and the restoration of an independent southern Yemeni
state.
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