Wednesday 14 September 2011

Yemenis want president to quit now


HUNDREDS of thousands of angry people are taking to the streets in Yemen in protest as President Ali Abdullah Saleh clings on to power.

Al Jazeera reports that crowds were shouting "No deal, no maneuvering, the president should leave" in the capital Sanaa as they demonstrated against Salehn's decision to authorise his vice president to negotiate with the opposition and sign a 'transition plan' on his behalf.

The news source also reports an explosion targeting an intelligence services office and another two blasts near a police station in the port city of Aden.
 
Saleh has been in neighbouring Saudi Arabia since June for treatment of wounds he suffered in an attack on his compound in Sanaa.

The impoverished country has been in turmoil since nationwide pro-democracy protests broke out in February, calling for an end to Saleh's 33-year rule.

An "increasingly violent struggle" has killed hundreds and injured thousands in Yemen this year, mainly due to the excessive use of force by the government's security forces, the United Nations said on Tuesday in a report by a team of three UN human rights investigators.