Yemen police disperse protests, make arrests

[oberliner]

Source: AFP

SANAA — Yemeni police on Sunday dispersed a protest in Sanaa calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster, injuring a woman and arresting 10 demonstrators, witnesses said.

Police also used batons in the southern city of Taez to break up a demonstration in the main square by hundreds of protesters, 120 of whom were arrested, activists told AFP.

In the capital, around 2,000 people, mostly students, marched from Sanaa University towards Al-Sabiine square near the presidential palace, chanting slogans calling for the resignation of Saleh.

Police blocked the route and attacked with batons, injuring a woman in the demonstration led by Yemeni female activist Tawakel Karman, who has been at the forefront of several protests in Sanaa since January.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jthXRJJ20jODtpY0tKU0R6a86Nsg?docId=CNG.e6210a294125e6051fab15d1b9c3fb5a.5e1

[Joanne98]

1. Yemeni protesters march on palace

SANAA (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters clashed with police trying to prevent them from marching toward Yemen's presidential palace in Sanaa on Sunday, witnesses said.

Shortly before the clashes, the opposition agreed to enter talks with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is keen to avert an Egypt-style revolt in the country, a U.S. ally against al Qaeda.

"The Yemeni people want the fall of the regime," protesters shouted during the demonstration attended by about 1,000 people, before dozens broke off to march to the palace. "A Yemeni revolution after the Egyptian revolution."

Sporadic anti-government protests have gathered momentum in Yemen. Earlier this month, tens of thousands took part in an opposition-led "Day of Rage" to demand a change of government, inspired by popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE71C0L520110213

[TomClash]

2. Young Protesters Revolt in Yemeni Capital

Source: NYTimes

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 relinquish power in 2013.

Those established opposition groups did not join the crowd on Sunday, which was 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 repulsed 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.“The J.M.P. in our opinion — the opinion of the students — is that they move in stages,” said a 30-year-old protester, Mohamed Mohsin, referring to the Joint Meetings Parties, a coalition of opposition parties. “But we go to the demonstrations to send the message to the leadership now.”

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.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14yemen.html?hp

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3. K/R