Huge rallies staged against and for Saleh

Agencies/Sanaa

Men shout slogans during a pro-government rally in Sanaa yesterday

Hundreds of thousands flooded Yemen’s streets yesterday seeking victory against “tyrants,” a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh said a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) proposal for power transfer should be treated positively. “God most merciful, grant us victory in Ramadan,” protesters chanted in Sittine Road, in a western district of the capital Sanaa. “Revolt, revolt to all people against the tyrants,” they chanted on what they have named the Friday of “achieving victory.” The protesters also called for “building a new Yemen.” Similar protests took place in the second-largest city Taez, as well as in Ibb, Hudaydah, Saada, Aden and Marib. Meanwhile, Saleh’s supporters rallied in tens of thousands in Sabiine Square in Sanaa’s southern district chanting “the people want Ali Abdullah Saleh.” They carried pictures of Saleh, recovering from bomb blast wounds in Riyadh, and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on what they have named the Friday of “national alliance to protect constitutional legitimacy.” Saleh, whose regime has been facing protests since January, said his ruling General People’s Congress party stresses the need to “continue to deal positively with the Gulf initiative,” Saba state news agency reported on Thursday. The president, who has been in office since 1978 and whose term ends in 2013, insisted, however, that the implementation of the Gulf proposal should be done “in accordance with the constitution.” The deal proposed by the GCC in April stipulated that Saleh would submit his resignation to parliament 30 days after passing power to his vice president, and tasking the opposition with forming a national unity government shared equally between the GPC and the opposition. Presidential elections would follow two months later. The deal faltered in May after Saleh kept procrastinating over signing it, and in early June he was nearly killed in a bomb attack on his Sanaa compound. Despite his absence, Saleh has not transferred power to Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as family members who lead strong army and security forces appear to run the country. Separately, gunmen allegedly linked to the Islamist Al Islah (reform) party attacked a security post in Taez killing a member of the security forces and wounding another,” the defence ministry’s website 26sep.net quoted a security official as saying. Two civilians were also wounded in the Thursday attack which 26sep.net described as a “breach of the truce” reached in Taez on Tuesday. Officials and tribal sources said on Wednesday that a new truce had been reached in Taez, which has been the scene of sporadic clashes between troops and armed tribesmen backing pro-democracy protests. Influential local tribes deployed armed men in Taez in June to protect protesters from attacks by troops loyal to the embattled president. A previous truce reached at the end of June had collapsed in early August as clashes were renewed, resulting in several deaths on both sides. Separately, in the southern province of Abyan where tribesmen and the military are waging a campaign against Islamists who have seized swathes of territory, officials said an air strike had killed 10 Islamist fighters. A local government official said yesterday that a government air strike on the town of Al Khamila had killed 10 Islamist fighters the previous evening.