SANAA – Yemeni women protested in Sanaa and other cities against President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday, a day after he called for an end to men and women joining together in anti-regime protests.
“Sit-in, sit-in, until the regime falls,” chanted about 1,000 black-clad women who marched from the square at Sanaa University — the epicentre of demonstrations in the capital — to the prosecutor’s office. They marched to lodge a complaint against Saleh, who has since January faced protests calling for his departure.
Playing to Yemeni religious sensitivities, Saleh on Friday called for an end to joint anti-regime protests, saying it was “contrary to the Sharia” Islamic law. In the complaint, the women called for the “restoration of their reputation from the injury and the affront brought by Ali Abdullah Saleh’s speech,” one of the protesters who submitted the complaint told journalists.
Prosecutor General Abdullah al-Olafi has ordered an investigation into the complaint, she said.
