Opponents and supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh held rival rallies in the Yemeni capital Friday after pre-dawn fighting between rival security forces dashed hopes an exit deal for the president would end the violence. Youth activists, who spearheadeded 10 months of protests against Saleh’s 33 year rule in which hundreds died, were furious that the agreement signed with the parliamentary opposition on Wednesday promised Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution. “The blood of the martyrs which has thrown you out of power, Saleh, will throw you in prison,” preacher Fuad al-Hanjari told tens of thousands of activists after funerals for four out of five protesters killed by plainclothes gunmen in the capital on Thursday. Similar protests were held in 17 of the 22 Arabian Peninsula country’s provinces, including two of the most populous — Taez and Ibb.
They said Saleh’s agreement to hand all “necessary constitutional powers” to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi with immediate effect and hold office on an honorary basis only for the coming 90 days was not enough and demanded the departure of the whole regime. “We did not start a revolution to keep half of the killers,” spokesman Walid al-Ammari said on Friday’s rally, adding that Hadi, the low-profile vice president for the past 17 years, was “just another arm of Saleh.” Saleh, who was still in Saudi Arabia after Wednesday’s signing of the exit plan drafted by his impoverished country’s wealthy Gulf neighbours, condemned Thursday’s violence by his loyalists and ordered an investigation. UN chief Ban Ki-moon, whose Yemen envoy Jamal Benomar was instrumental in persuading Saleh to sign the Gulf transition plan after months of prevarication, had said he expected the president to travel to New York for treatment. Tens of thousands of Saleh’s supporters held a massive counter-demonstration on the capital’s Sabiin Avenue Friday demanding change “only through the ballot box” — a constant refrain of the president during his long months of refusal to sign up to the exit plan.
