SANAA – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered his forces Thursday to offer “full protection” to anti-regime protesters and loyalists alike, after 15 people died in an uprising against his rule. The move came as 28 MPs from his General People’s Congress (GPC) urged the president to implement a 10-point reform plan and the number rose to 11 of lawmakers from his ruling party who resigned.
Saleh instructed “all security services to thwart all clashes and prevent direct confrontation between pro- and anti-government protesters,” read a statement published on state news agency Saba. It demanded security services grant “full protection” to all demonstrators and urged protesters to “remain vigilant” against infiltrators seeking to ignite violence. Two anti-government protesters were killed on Wednesday when supporters of Saleh opened fire on a sit-in in Sanaa, bringing to at least 15 the number of deaths in a crackdown on the revolt since February 16.
Clashes between anti-regime protesters and Saleh loyalists have taken place almost daily since the protests began, injuring scores of people. “We are impatiently waiting for Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi to fall, so the media can turn their attention to us here in Yemen and that Ali Abdullah Saleh in turn will leave,” protester Hashem al-Ibara told AFP. Dozens of black-clad women on Thursday joined thousands of protesters camping out for a fifth day in an impromptu tent city outside Sanaa University.
Members of the university’s professors’ union also turned out to support the demonstrators, who have one demand: that Saleh step down. While the 64-year-old leader has resisted pressure to resign, on February 2 he vowed not to seek a new mandate when his term ends in 2013 and promised political reforms. The uprising against Saleh, who has been in power in Sanaa since 1978, was inspired by similar revolts that toppled the seemingly unshakeable presidents of Tunisia and Egypt.
A group of 28 MPs with Saleh’s GPC, including 11 legislators who resigned over the government crackdown, on Thursday urged the president to implement a 10-point reform plan. In an open letter to Saleh, the MPs called for national dialogue between all parties within a week and the appointment of new military leaders. They also demanded that Saleh acknowledge “problems and mistakes” in the poverty-striken and formerly independent south of Yemen, the site of frequent unrest.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged Saleh’s government to end its crackdown on anti-regime protesters, especially in the south. It also called for the release of Hassan Baoum, a leader of the secessionist Southern Movement, who was detained on Sunday and has since been held incommunicado. Protests also surfaced in northern Yemen this week, where tens of thousands demonstrated in the Shiite rebel stronghold of Saada to demand the president step down.
